Add The New York Post on Google The shell-shocked ex-wife of the homeless madman who allegedly slashed five people in Penn Station broke down Tuesday when she learned about his bloody spree — which capped a years-long downward spiral punctuated by violence.
Waleska Morales, 48, shrieked in horror and nearly collapsed as she found out from The Post that Hector Deleon, her common-law spouse of 14 years, stood accused of rampaging through the Midtown transit hub with a dagger Sunday.
“Me and him been separated three years for domestic violence,” said Morales. “He physical and verbal abused me. He hit me with the closed fist.
“Last time I saw him he was the same, bad. He knocked on our door two weeks ago and I told the security guards that he’s not supposed to be up here.”
Law-enforcement sources said Deleon, 51, who remained sedated at a local hospital, was expected to be charged with five counts of assault with intent to cause serious personal injury with a weapon.
The charges would add to the New Jersey man’s long, violence-streaked rap sheet — as Morales and others who knew him in the Garden State recounted how he had allegedly slipped deeper in drugs and brutality over the years.
His record includes at least seven past arrests since 2008, including a 2022 stabbing in Newark that was eerily similar to the Penn Station spree he allegedly committed.
Deleon was accused in that case of stabbing a man in the neck with a six-inch blade, leaving him needing nine stitches, court records state. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and received just two years of probation when he was sentenced the following year.
The attack unfolded along Frelinghuysen Avenue in Newark, near where Deleon lived at the time, records show.
Tito Fernandez, 48, owner of Tito’s Transmission Center along Frelinghuysen Avenue, said he has known Deleon for roughly 15 years.
Like Morales, he was shocked to hear that Deleon, whom he said would often be seen walking his dog, stood accused of committing the Penn Station horror.
“It’s got to be the drugs. When he’s not on drugs he’s a regular person,” Fernandez said.
“He used to be a nice person then he got into the drugs and f—ed his life up. I didn’t see him all winter he came out from the housing — the drug rehab. He looked good he looked fat and he looked nice and then three days on the drugs he looked skinny. Crazy eyes.”
Deleon remained out of jail during his probation in the 2022 stabbing case – despite at least one violation and an arrest in a domestic violence incident – and up until Sunday’s rampage, records show.
His most recent arrest before the attacks unfolded May 22, when video obtained by The Post shows a bedraggled Deleon reached into a New Jersey Dunkin’ Donuts tip jar and take all the coins
Deleon was a common sight in the area, often coming inside to pay for coffee with coins, said the manager of the eatery, located across from the Long Branch Railroad Station.
“I see him some times at the station across the street, yelling,” the manager said. “Yelling at people.”
