By Staff Writers
ROSEDALE – A North Fork Bank branch in Rosedale was robbed Tuesday afternoon by a man who displayed an explosive device to a bank teller, said Lt. Steven Cairo of the 105th Precinct.
He said the suspect, a white man between 30 and 35 years old, entered the bank at 145-15 243rd St. at 12:10 p.m., handed a note to a bank teller and flashed what seemed to be a bomb.
The suspect was wearing a black baseball hat, white sweatshirt and rubber gloves, he said.
Police Officers Kinny and Reilly of the 105th Precinct responded to the robbery.
The bank teller gave the suspect $4,400, and he fled the scene in a white Chevrolet with New York City license plates, said Cairo. The plate numbers were not known at the time of the robbery.
At 1 p.m. Sergeant Bell along with Police Officers Phipps and Staples of the 105th Precinct found the car parked and running a few block from the bank at 144-45 Weller Ave. in Rosedale. Cairo said the explosive device was sitting on the front seat of the unoccupied car.
According to Cairo, the area around the car was evacuated and the Emergency Service Unit was called in to examine the bomb. He said ESU determined the bomb was only clay wrapped in black tape.
The crime was being investigated by the Joint Bank Robbery Task Force.
Former head of Flushing credit unit barred from work at U.S. institutions
FLUSHING
