By Gus Saltonstall
The New York Police Department is looking for a man connected to a string of bank robberies over the past few days on the Upper West Side.
The robberies and attempted robberies took place from May 26 to June 1 at three separate banks between West 94th and 109th streets, police said.
The first incident happened around 3 p.m. on May 26, when a man walked into a Bank of America at 2770 Broadway, near the corner of West 107th Street, and passed the teller a note demanding money, while also displaying a bag, NYPD said. The teller did not hand the money over, though, and the man fled westbound on 107th Street, NYPD added.
Around an hour later on the same day, a man walked into a TD Bank at 2521 Broadway, near the corner of West 94th Street, and again passed a teller a note demanding money, along with an empty bag, police said. The man was able to grab $1,700 and ran out of the building, NYPD added.
Then, around 4:30 p.m. on June 1, a man walked into a TD Bank at 2831 Broadway, near the corner of West 109th Street, and displayed to a teller a note demanding money, as well as an empty bag, police said. The teller handed over $800, and the man fled the bank, NYPD said.
There were no injuries in any of the incidents, police added.
NYPD released a photo Tuesday of the suspect, whom they describe as a man with a medium build and tribal tattoos on his arms.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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Honestly, don’t rob banks when you have visible tattoos
Or at least wear a long sleeve shirt
L
It also looks like there is a similar tattoo on the left cheek..
Hahaha! My thought also!! Strewth! How weird! The guy’s done for!! .. Unless these are fake!
They’re not going to face any kind of meaningful consequences when they get caught, so why even bother making the effort to conceal identifying features?
No meaningful consequences for bank robbery? I don’t understand why people post such nonsensical comments, other people give it a thumbs up, or WSR publishes it in the first place.
Banks are FDIC insured so it’s a federal crime. The sentence is 8-20 and if you have a gun it’s 25. Google says the average sentence is 110 months:
https://www.nyccriminalattorneys.com/federal-sentencing-guidelines-for-bank-robbery/
Let’s hope so !
Actually, Spodek Law says the average is 110 months, not Google. The former is a source, the latter is a search engine and not a source.
This is inaccurate.
Federal sentencing uses a points-based guideline system. A first-time unarmed bank robbery with a guilty plea would likely come out to around 20 points, which generally corresponds to a recommended range of about 33–41 months. So yes, it is serious prison time, but not the decades-long sentence some people seem to imagine.
Ha! Bank robbery is a federal crime. This guy is toast.
If he’s caught, he’ll be eligible for cashless bail because the robbery was nonviolent. Other nonviolent bank robbers have been released on cashless bail before. Pretty easy to look up.
Also pretty easy to look up that bank robbery is a federal crime. The presumption of cashless bail is NY law. Constantly amazes me how people who profess to be interested in “law and order” wouldn’t pass a civics test.
Being out on bail does not mean there are no meaningful consequences!
If the cops can’t catch this genius, they really should be ashamed.
People really watch too much TV. Not catching someone immediately does not mean the police are incompetent or that the guy is some kind of genius. Real investigations take time – surveillance footage, warrants, interviews, digital evidence, etc.
I’m proud of Sarah for not immediately jumping to the criminal’s defense for once. Though the instinct to blame the police is still there.
I don’t “defend criminals.” I defend the rule of law, the Constitution, and a civilized society.
BoA teller like, “Nah, I’m good.”
Should have handed him a lollipop. 🍭
TD will always lose out on this because they don’t have glass separating tellers from customers.
What I’d like to know is what the security guards were doing? They were expressly put there to stop incidents like this.
How about we enact laws that “put a stop to incidents like this”, oh wait. . .
Security guards in banks do not have guns. Many years ago they did and it mostly caused death/injury of guards and customers.
WSR, please keep us updated on this.
Really dumb robber. Maybe from out of town or about to skip town so he doesn’t car?
LOL he’s not going to be difficult to find. Nice disguise.
I don’t understand all the lols and snickering about this. It is bank robbery, people.
At the same time, some commenters act as if he is facing life in prison. Under the federal sentencing point system, a first-time unarmed bank robbery with a guilty plea would likely fall into a range of roughly 2.5–3 years actually served in prison, followed by supervised release.
No wonder this persons doesn’t bother with disguise.
It’s quite serious. You think 3 years in federal prison is nothing?
For some people.
…what kind of people? Please, do tell us.
Is it that hard to just get a job? There are a million jobs out there.
It is when you ain’t looking for one. Why work when gov’t give you all these freebies?
Tell that to the thousands of people looking for a job in NYC including recent college graduates.
No, Tam, it’s not always so easy to “just get a job” unless you’re thinking of flipping fast food burgers or washing dishes, and even for those there is competition. There are plenty of college graduates who are struggling to find a decent job.
This was his job.
Where is the security?
The question I raise, is there a emergency button at every bank teller’s location ?!
There may be but my understanding is that tellers are trained just to hand over some cash so as not to escalate the situate to where somebody gets hurt. The equivalent of giving a kid mugging money.
Why was he allowed in a bank wearing a mask?
I’m very familiar with the 94th Street TD branch. Don’t they now always have a police officer/security stationed inside the TD bank on 94th Street? I wonder what happened with that – is there no way for the tellers to signal to security that there’s a problem? If so, why are they even there? I’m glad no one got hurt, and …
At this location it is an unarmed security guard. Just like when the MTA put unarmed security guards at the unprotected emergency exit gates, all they actually do is watch the law breakers break the law and are truly powerless to stop it. Some TD banks have off duty NYPD or pay for on duty NYPD detail officers. Those ‘security guards’ can actually stop a robbery. But only the most brazen bank robbers would even attempt to rob a bank with a uniformed NYPD officer inside.
Thanks to those tats, this clown should be very easy to find!
Where were the security guards?
I was mugged a long time ago, and they eventually caught one of the guys, and it turns out he already had a warrant out because he had unsuccessfully tried to rob a bank earlier that week, exactly like this (bluffed he had a gun, passed a note with bag), and I’ll never forget the way the person from the DA’s office described it to me, they were just like “they don’t realize the bank tellers in New York are REAL. She told him if he was going to threaten her with a gun, he had to prove it first.” He made a break for it instead.
Was this armed robbery ?
What is in right hand ?
He just hands them a note ?
Sounds like a Woody Allen film “Take the money and run”
Was the note grammatically correct ?
Were there any spelling errors ?
I’m assuming that it was a “gub” in his right hand, LOL!
Stupid is as stupid does! Will be sooo recognizable to someone! Distinct tats! FACE! Post reward, you got him!
Bank Teller #1: Does this look like “gub” or “gun”?
Bank Teller #2: “Gun”. See? But what does “abt” mean?
Virgil: It’s “act”. A-C-T. “Act natural. Please put $50,000 into this bag and act natural.”
Bank Teller #1: Oh, I see. This is a holdup?
Banks must consider installing buttons at each tellers station allowing them to lock the interior door after the perp attemps to flee and then lock the exterior door immediaely after. essentialy corraling the perp until the police get there.
So, you’re suggesting we give the criminal an opportunity to use bank customers and employees as hostages?