Bouquet Bandit Robs Chelsea Bank

NEW YORK — New York City's bouquet bandit has a green thumb. Police said Tuesday that a man wanted for robbing a Manhattan bank while armed with a bouquet of flowers has struck before – using a potted plant.

On Monday, police released a security photo of a man holding fresh flowers that were neatly bundled in pink tissue paper and plastic. Hidden inside the arrangement was a note demanding $50 and $100 bills and a message for the teller, "Don't be a hero."

On July 10, police say the same man appeared at another Manhattan bank, holding a threatening note under a leafy plant and handing it to a teller. He reached over the counter grabbed the cash before he fled, leaving the plant behind.

He is still at large.

Comments

[timewarp23]

03:42 PM on 07/20/2010

is that DMX up in there?

[EarlTGrey]

03:27 PM on 07/20/2010

Nothing says 'I'm sorry, but...' like flowers. What might be next? How about a Payday bar?

[lockDown]

11:41 AM on 07/20/2010

A creative way to combat unemployment. Extend benefits!

[hjalmar]

11:38 AM on 07/20/2010

He posed as a disarming flower delivery man just as the bigger time crooks pose as your friendly neighborhood banker before they steal from you and the US Treasury.

[Ever12]

01:11 PM on 07/20/2010

I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad. This is the poor version of thievery.

[kel]

11:36 AM on 07/20/2010

I wonder if he left the flowers for the teller or took them with his cash. A few blocks down a super market is missing a bouquet (did he steal those or pay for them?)

[ramal]

11:35 AM on 07/20/2010

Always be wary of strange men bearing flowers. We here in Atlanta still talk about the socialite who was killed here thirty years ago when she opened the front door to a man posing as a florist delivery man with a dozen red roses. The killer was hired by her husband, who was finally convicted and put in prison.

[KLordsha]

11:34 AM on 07/20/2010

"Give me the money or I'll make you smell them." "The money or lilacs, pollen, your nose..it won't be pretty."

[humpfree]

11:25 AM on 07/20/2010

Woulda been a nice gesture to at least leave the flowers.

[Mondayboy]

11:24 AM on 07/20/2010

Now, I will never see or receive flowers in the same light.....

[EvasDaddy]

11:18 AM on 07/20/2010

Say it with flowers ... that's an old one.

[Barrister2010]

11:06 AM on 07/20/2010

just when you think you've seen it all.