MANHATTAN — A serial bank robber who's been seen wearing a blue painter's jumpsuit was arrested after he hit 10 Manhattan banks within a few months — including five in a single day this week, according to the NYPD.
The suspect, 43-year-old Abdul Harley, who is homeless, was wanted for five bank robberies that occurred between November and January. He was finally arrested after he robbed five more banks on Thursday, police said.
On Thursday, Harley first struck a Bank of America at 800 Sixth Ave., demanding money from the teller just before 9:30 a.m. and fleeing when the teller refused to give him any, police said.
Then at 10:47 a.m., he did the same thing in the Banco Popular at 345 Park Ave., but this time, made off successfully with an undetermined amount of money, police said.
At 1:09 p.m., Harley demanded money from a teller at the 1221 Madison Ave. Chase Bank, but fled empty handed when the cashier walked away from him, police said.
Then roughly a half an hour later, he entered an HSBC Bank at 1340 Third Ave. and motioned to an employee behind the counter to come to the window. Recognizing the suspect from photos the police had shared earlier in the week, staff ignored Hurley and he ran away, the NYPD said.
Shortly after, Hurley's robbing spree came to an end at the TD Bank at 1470 Second Ave., where he tried to enter the through the front doors but was barred from going in by a security guard who recognized him from wanted fliers, police said. Hurley ran away empty-handed, they said.
Nobody was hurt in any of the robberies, authorities said.
Little did Hurley know that officers of the 19th Precinct were "hot on the suspect's trail," using smart phones equipped with an alarm that alerts them to robberies in progress to track him down, according to authorities.
Officers caught up with him in front of Dallas BBQ at 1265 Third Ave., where he confessed to all of the robberies to detectives from the NYPD's Major Case Squad, police said.
Hurley was charged with robbery in the third degree for eight of the 10 incidents, according to the NYPD.
He had not yet been arraigned as of Friday morning, according to the District Attorney's office.
Bank of America declined to comment and the other banks did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday.