By Jon Schuppe and Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporters/Producers
MANHATTAN — The Bouquet Bandit has been busted.
Edward Pemberton, 44, was arrested Wednesday morning for holding up two Chelsea banks in recent weeks armed with flowers and a potted plant.
Pemberton reportedly worked odd jobs near the banks. Detectives canvassing the Flower District tracked him to his home in Brooklyn, according to WABC-TV. Police also received several tips from people who saw an image of him distributed to the media.
As Pemberton was escorted by NYPD from One Police Plaza to court, he said he was doing fine.
"I'm doing great they've been real good to me," the bouquet bandit said. "Tell my girl I love her, no names she knows who she is."
Pemberton has a long rap sheet, and reportedly spent the weekend in jail on an unrelated charge. He was released Monday, the New York Post reported.
In the first heist, on July 8, the robber entered a Capital One branch on West 23rd Street with a potted plant, which he then handed to a teller. Attached to the plant was a note reading, "Give me all your 100s, 50s, no dye pack, no bait money."
The teller obliged and the faux-deliveryman made off with the cash and the plant.
Exactly one week later, he struck again, robbing a Bank of Smithtown on Seventh Avenue near West 18th Street, this time with the note attached to a bouquet of flowers, which was complete with Cellophane and pink tissue paper. He took cash, but left the flowers behind.
