Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Uneasy RobbersPolice busted an anxious bank robber. At about 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 17, a man from the Bronx entered the Citibank at 1445 Third Avenue and passed a note to a teller asking for money. As the teller was reading the note, the man apparently got spooked and left without any money. Not done for the day, however, at 11:44 a.m. he entered the Ridgewood Savings Bank located at 1404 Second Ave., again passing a note to a teller but this time getting an undisclosed amount of money before fleeing on foot. Unfortunately for the robber, later identified only as a 39-year-old from the Bronx, police were already looking for him in the neighborhood after the earlier report and spotted him outside on First Avenue. He was positively identified by employees of both bank branches and arrested on two counts of robbery. Police said that the suspect had a lengthy rap sheet.

In a similar incident, a man entered the Chase Bank at 1191 Third Ave. about 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 20, and passed a teller a note saying, “Give me everything.” As the teller was reading it, the would-be robber panicked and fled northbound on Third without any money. Police are continuing to investigate the incident.

Scooter ScoreOne man’s scooter did some unauthorized scooting. At 9 p.m. on Oct. 17, an Upper East Side resident parked his red 2007 Vespa scooter outside 313 East 85th St. When he returned the following morning at 10:18 a.m., he found that his Vespa had vanished. The stolen scooter was valued at $3,000.

Shoplifter DownOne shoplifter apparently learned nothing from his previous transgressions. At 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 15, a man entered Bloomingdale’s on Third Avenue, concealed two goose down jackets on his person and tried to leave the store. Store loss-prevention personnel stopped him, however, and police soon made the arrest, charging the man, a 35-year-old from Brooklyn, with grand larceny and burglary because he had a no-trespassing affidavit due to previous offences in the store.

Sprayground SpreePolice arrested two youths who had taken another boy’s backpack. At 5 p.m. on Oct. 19, three teenaged boys approached a 14-year-old in the St. Catherine’s Park playground on First Avenue between East 67th and 68th Streets and asked him to hand over his backpack. The youthful muggers fled, but two of them were subsequently arrested and charged with robbery.