A 23-year-old man from Brooklyn has admitted that he tried to kiss, fondle and lick the legs and toes of more than 70 women on the New York subway over the last three years, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

In a handwritten confession to police released by the Manhattan district attorney's office, Joseph Weir said his aim was "to make them laugh and smile and open to talk to me."

Weir, who was arrested late last week after attacking a woman on a subway in lower Manhattan, is charged with forcible touching, sex abuse and unlawful imprisonment says Reuters.

He faces up to a year in jail if convicted and has been released on $6,000 bail until a court hearing on June 26.

Weir said his motivation was to get to know the women, but he recalled that often they would move away when he tried to "taste and touch them."

Prosecutors said dozens of women had started to come forward to identify Weir.