Talk about bad timing.
Three scam artists trying to cash counterfeit checks at a Manhattan bank were caught red-handed by two investigators from the Brooklyn DA's office — who had just showed up to execute an unrelated warrant on a safety deposit box, a source told "On the Inside."
Detective Chasity Slade and her partner Rommie Woolcock walked into the Citibank at West 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue around 3 p.m. Thursday to examine safety deposit boxes owned by suspects eyed in undisclosed long-term investigation in Brooklyn.
As they cooled their heels waiting for access to the boxes, the branch manager came over alerting them that a man, later identified as Artemus Robinson, 23, had just tried to pass a bad check to a teller and was heading out the door.
The investigators quickly followed the suspect into the street, where they tried to follow him before he spotted them and took off running down Amsterdam and eventually jumped into the rear of a waiting getaway car, which sped off.
The duo quickly flagged down a NYPD officer, jumped into his squad car and they chased the fleeing suspects for a couple of blocks before successfully boxing the suspects with the help of several other NYPD cruisers that joined the chase.
The police recovered $1,400 from the glove compartment in the getaway car which they believe was taken earlier in the day from another Citibank branch, sources said.
The two other suspects were identified as Anthony Sangiulo, 25 and Hassan Ford, 20. The trio were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon, and no further details were immediately available, officials said.
“These individual committed a crime and they should be held accountable for their actions,” said Detective Slade, who was a city elementary school teacher before joining the DA’s office 10 years ago.
