The man,…
By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Police are asking for the public’s assistance in tracking down a bank robber who has targeted 34 banks in Queens since 2001, most of which were in the 111th and 107th precincts that cover neighborhoods in the northeastern part of the borough.
The man, described as a white male between the ages of 25 and 35 wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, also struck five times in Manhattan, police said in a news release. He passed a note to a teller on 33 occasions and displayed a gun six times, police said.
It was unclear how much money the thief has managed to steal over the years since initial police reports often do not have the total calculated for each offense.
The robber began his spree on June 15, 2001 at a North Fork Bank in Glen Oaks, police said. He struck a week later at a Roslyn Savings Bank in Little Neck, then waited almost two months before hitting a Dime Savings Bank in Hillcrest on Aug. 13, 2001.
After the Hillcrest heist, the robber struck at least once a month, sometimes several times a month, until a Manhattan robbery at a Dime Savings Bank on May 2, 2002. The spree resumed Aug. 2, 2002 at a Greenpoint Bank in Forest Hills and continued over the next four months at six different banks in Kew Gardens Hills, Bayside and Little Neck.
The last two heists were at a North Fork Bank in Bayside on the Horace Harding Expressway Jan. 6, and at an Astoria Federal Savings bank in Flushing June 16.
Although the two-year robbery pattern took place all over the borough, the 107th and 111th precincts recorded the highest concentration of them. The 107th, including Fresh Meadows, Briarwood and Kew Gardens Hills, had 12 robberies, and the 111th, which covers Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston and part of Auburndale, had nine.
The brazen thief even robbed three banks the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center: two Chase branches in East Flushing and Fresh Meadows and a Roslyn Savings Bank in Little Neck.
Anyone with information about the bank robbery pattern should call (800) 577-TIPS.
Bank robberies have skyrocketed in the city this year, with the Police Department in April reporting a threefold increase in bank heists citywide over last year. The TimesLedger counted at least 36 such incidents in Queens from January to April this year.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg lambasted bank executives earlier this year, saying they were encouraging bank robbery by not investing in proper security.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
