San Juan, Jul 21 (EFE).– Puerto Rican police are closing in on the “Santurce rapist,” a criminal who has spread panic here in recent months.

The chief of detectives of the San Juan metropolitan area, Maj. Jazmin Perez, told EFE Tuesday that the cops are working with tips received in the last few hours after they posted photos of the man suspected in four cases of rape since last May.

Nicknamed for the San Juan neighborhood where he operates, the Santurce rapist is suspected in four sexual assaults since May, crimes that have instilled fear in women of the Puerto Rican capital.

The investigation took a new turn Monday when police released images of the suspect taken by a bank security camera.

The rapist, while holding captive one of his victims, used her card to withdraw money from an ATM.

The criminal, whose crimes are reported on the front pages of all the dailies on the Caribbean island, is believed to be between 35 and 42 years old.

The pictures of the individual, which have gone viral on social media, show a short, stocky, dark-complexioned man with a tattoo of a woman on his right arm.

While the suspect tried to cover his face with a cap and dark glasses at the ATM, police say people who know him would be able to identify him from the images.

The insecurity created among women by the deeds of the Santurce rapist led San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz to announce Tuesday that police security will be doubled.

The criminal followed the same pattern in all four cases of violence against women – he first intercepts his victims’ vehicles, then forces them to take money out of an ATM, and finally rapes them.

The common denominator of the victims is that all are women between ages 25 and 30 who happened to be alone at the time they were attacked.

Police warn that the rapist is a highly dangerous individual, and for that reason have asked the public to take extreme measures to keep themselves safe until the suspect is apprehended. EFE