Man Behind Northwest Queens Bank Robbing Spree Sought By Police

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Police are searching for a man who they say is behind a series of northwest Queens bank heists.

Throughout Nov., a tall, light-skinned man has walked into banks in Astoria, Jackson Heights, and Corona and passed the teller a note demanding money, before running away with thousands of dollars worth of cash, according to the NYPD.

The first reported robbery happened on Nov. 17th at Astoria's Alma Bank on 28-20 Ditmars Boulevard; the man walked into the bank, passed the teller a note demanding money, and ran away from the building with $337 in cash, police said.

Ten days later, the NYPD connected the man with a series of bank robberies across the borough based on surveillance footage.

According to police, the man also robbed Queens County Savings Bank, located at 51-13 108th Street in Corona, on the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 20th, stealing about $800 in cash from a bank teller.

Then, on the morning of Friday, Nov. 26th he walked into Santander Bank at 83-20 Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, slipped another teller a note demanding money, and drove off in a 2020 Toyota Corolla with about $2,121 in cash.

On that same day, several hours later, he walked into another bank in Middle Village — a Citibank located at 78-09 Metropolitan Avenue — and slipped the teller a note demanding cash, but the bank worker refused and the man ran away empty handed.

Police said that the man behind these robberies is about 6-feet, 1-inch tall and weighs 150 pounds. Over the weekend, NYPD officials released a surveillance photo of him taken in Citibank.

No arrests have been made and the case remains under investigation, officials said on Monday, Nov. 29th.

Anyone with information about this incident can call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) or submit a tip online or on Twitter.