With the economic climate as it is - easy prey is easy pickings...opportunism may become the rule of the day in the near future! That guy may be the tip of the iceberg then...
Bad as it sounds, you may be right. Various news sites
report that the person charged is one Salvatore Perron,
63 years old, of Staten Island. Not sure how the NYPD
tracked him down.
Update: you were right in your surmise and I was wrong
in my first and later reply. “John Doe Duffel Bag” (am
not giving his name bc of the others who share it). is
a delusional nut-case, and it may well be that he targeted
his victims because of perceived ethnicity. (although
two at least religions are represented). He also was known,
albeit casually to his victims; another of his sales route
clients recognized him. He has several arrests in his past.
Despite that, he can be “personable.” I was really wondering
how the victims were taken off guard by the sort of person
I was incorrectly surmising to be the perpetrator.