N.Y. groping suspected arrested

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NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A serial groper accused of molesting women in 12 attacks in New York has been arrested, police said.

Jose Alfredo Perez Hernandez, 18, was taken into custody Monday night after police tracked his cell phone to a Queens apartment, the New York Daily News reported.

Police said they were acting on a tip from the superintendent of an upper East Side building who recognized Hernandez from a surveillance photo as a man who worked in the building's cafe.

Co-workers told police Hernandez had stopped coming to work around the time the surveillance photos were circulated.

"Last Sunday he told me he was looking for a lawyer," kitchen worker Diego Sanchez said. "He was worried since the first pictures showed up in the streets."

The groper is suspected of molesting women over the past seven months, sneaking up behind them to grab their buttocks, crotch or chest, the Daily News said.