ATLANTIC CITY -- A tip to Atlantic County Crime Stoppers led city police on Monday to a suspect who allegedly brutally stabbed a man at least 10 times on Mount Vernon Avenue two weeks earlier.
Cleveland Jones, 35, of City Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon with unlawful purposes, police spokesman Sgt. Michael Tullio said.
The arrest came after a Monday call to the crime-fighting hot line. Later in the day, victim Ricky Kelly identified Jones as his attacker, leading police to arrest the suspect without incident at his home, Tullio said.
Kelly, 27, of the 100 block of South Vermont Avenue, was stabbed 10 times in the back, chest and stomach as he walked home from the Schoolhouse Apartments in the early morning hours of May 11.
Kelly told police that the man walked up behind him as he took a shortcut along Mount Vernon Avenue between 2:30 and 4 a.m., stabbing him once in the chest before he had a chance to fight back.
Jones allegedly threatened to kill Kelly before the victim fell to the ground and curled into a fetal position to avoid more stab wounds.
The attacker continued stabbing Kelly before spotting a police cruiser and running from the scene. Kelly staggered to the Schoolhouse Apartments at 61 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where security guards contacted medics and police.
The victim was taken to the Atlantic City Medical Center, City Division, where he was treated for a punctured lung and other injuries. He later told investigators that he only knew the attacker as "Sam," gave a description of the assailant and told authorities that the man frequented drug hot spots along Arctic Avenue.
On Monday, a caller told Crime Stoppers that Jones matched the description of the attacker.
Jones was arrested just after 4 p.m. and was taken to the Atlantic County jail, where he remained Tuesday afternoon, Tullio said.
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