New York ( CNN ) -- Police said Thursday that they have arrested a homeless man in the daytime rape of a 73-year-old woman in New York 's Central Park . David Albert Mitchell was charged with predatory sexual assault , rape , criminal sex act and robbery assault , according to police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne . He said detectives uncovered photographs of Mitchell on the victim 's home computer , which she had apparently downloaded after photographing him more than a week ago in the park . Browne said the woman told police that she had seen him masturbating in park and then photographed him . `` It 's the same guy she thinks she photographed nine days ago , '' added Browne , who said Mitchell has an extensive arrest record in Virginia and West Virginia . The heavily tattooed 42-year-old man was charged with murder and sexual assault in 1989 but was acquitted the following year , he said . In May 2003 , Mitchell was convicted of abduction and kidnapping in Virginia and sentenced to eight years in prison . Police said the attack occurred Wednesday while the victim was bird watching in the vicinity of 74th Street and Central Park West , also known as Strawberry Fields . The woman told police they exchanged words and he sexually assaulted her . He also stole some items , authorities said . The woman was taken to a hospital after passerby Eric Ozawa found her lying in the bushes . `` I saw her face was badly beaten , '' Ozawa told CNN affiliate WABC . `` She was swollen , her right eye was black , her forehead was swollen . ... She told me that she had been raped . '' This is the first reported sexual assault in Central Park this year , according to police records . In 2011 , two such attacks occurred . `` She was a victim of a terrible attack , '' Browne told WABC . More from CNN Justice : . Former NFL player Chad Johnson charged with domestic battery . Witness tells of stumbling across France murder scene . Mysterious tourist deaths in Asia prompt poison probe . Airport workers charged in theft ring of alcohol mini-bottles . CNN 's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report .
NEW : The man arrested is identified as David Albert Mitchell . NEW : The heavily tattooed 42-year-old man has an extensive arrest record , police say . Woman , 73 , was taken to an area hospital after passerby found her lying in the bushes .