Police are looking for two men wanted for carrying out up to a dozen bank robberies throughout western Queens over the past month (Photos provided by NYPD)
Nov. 29, 2021 By Michael Dorgan
Police are looking for two men wanted for carrying out up to a dozen bank robberies throughout western Queens over the past month.
The alleged thieves hit banks in Astoria, Long Island City, Maspeth, Corona, Flushing, Middle Village and East Elmhurst – and made off with at least $17,800 cash, police said.
In each incident, one of the suspects entered a bank and handed a note to a teller before demanding money. Once the teller complied, the suspect grabbed the money and fled the scene.
In some cases, the suspects used a gray Toyota Corolla as a getaway car. There were no injuries and no weapons displayed in any of the reported incidents, police said.
The suspects used a gray Toyota Corolla, pictured, as a getaway car (Photo: NYPD)
The first robbery allegedly took place on Nov. 8 at around 4:10 p.m. when the thieves stole nearly $3,000 from a Capital One Bank branch located at 30-17 Broadway in Astoria.
Four days later, at around 3:45 p.m., a suspect took an undetermined amount of money from a Chase Bank branch located just blocks away at 38-18 Broadway.
The pattern continued on Nov. 15 when the pair hit a Santander Bank branch located at 22-59 31st St. in Astoria and made off with $965.
On Nov. 17, the perpetrators stole around $340 from the Alma Bank branch located at 28-20 Ditmars Boulevard.
The following day the bandits targeted two banks. They hit the Citibank branch located at 38-18 Queens Boulevard at around 11:30 a.m. and took $500—before taking their biggest heist four hours later when they stole $5,250 from a Valley Bank branch located at 64-01 Grand Avenue in Maspeth.
The crime spree continued on Nov. 20 when $800 was taken from the Queens County Savings Bank branch located at 51-13 108th Street in Corona.
On Nov. 24, the pair again targeted two separate banks in one day. The suspects held up the Apple Bank branch at 43-73 Kissena Boulevard in Flushing, at 9:40 a.m. and took $210. At 4:05 p.m., they robbed Queens County Savings Bank on 108th Street in Corona – the same bank they had targeted four days earlier—and got away with $1,500.
Two days later, at around 10:40 a.m., the suspects stole around $2,100 from a Santander Bank branch located at 83-20 Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing.
Later that day they attempted to rob the Citibank branch located at 78-09 Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, but the teller at the bank refused to hand over the cash. The suspect in this incident left the scene empty-handed.
The Capital One Bank branch located at 30-17 Broadway in Astoria was one of the banks that was robbed (Photo: Google Maps)
The latest bank robbery took place Saturday when the suspects took $3,150 from the Santander Bank branch located at 75-81 31st Avenue in East Elmhurst.
Police released photos of the suspects wanted for questioning.
One of the suspects is described as being a light-skinned male in his mid-30’s, with black hair and facial hair.
The other suspect is described as being light-skinned.
Anyone with information in regard to 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). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
