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Aspiring Bank Robber Arrested After Three Failed Robbery Attempts: NYPD

By Allegra Hobbs | July 21, 2017 8:45am | Updated on July 21, 2017 12:17pm
 Police on Wednesday arrested a man who tried and failed to rob three banks in lower Manhattan.
Police on Wednesday arrested a man who tried and failed to rob three banks in lower Manhattan.
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NYPD

LOWER EAST SIDE — This guy shouldn't quit his day job.

Police on Wednesday arrested Richard Callison, 21, of New Jersey after he tried to rob three banks in Lower Manhattan over two days but failed miserably each time, according to police and prosecutors.

The would-be robber first entered a Bank of America at 92 Delancey St. on Tuesday around 4:37 p.m. wearing sunglasses and a bucket hat, according to police and surveillance footage.

He passed a note to the teller that said "Give me all the big bills (no traces) make the wrong move and you will get shot rapido rapido rapido," according to a police report.

The teller simply locked her drawer and walked away, police said. Callison then left and seemed to motion to four other men loitering nearby, but those men did not approach the bank and Callison fled north on Ludlow Street without incident, police said. He never displayed a weapon.

The failed robber popped up again the next morning at 10:40 a.m., when he entered a Chase Bank at 109 Delancey St. and passed a note to the teller that read "Give me the money. No die packs. Big bills or your life will end!!!" while brandishing what appeared to be a gun through a plastic bag, according to a criminal complaint.

The teller went to speak to a manager and Callison fled without any money, police said.

The thief tried once more about an hour later at a Citibank at 749 Broadway in Noho near Astor Place, where he tried passing another note to the teller, this time one that read "Put the money in the bag. No tracers and no one has to get hurt," according to a criminal complaint. He again pointed what seemed to be a gun through a plastic bag at the teller, the complaint states.

Callison was apprehended Wednesday afternoon in the 13th Precinct, according to police. He was arraigned Thursday evening and charged with two counts of attempted robbery in the first degree and one count of robbery in the third degree, prosecutors said. 

Callison admitted to police that he had carried out the three failed robberies and identified himself in surveillance footage, according to the criminal complaint. 

He is currently being held in an unspecified jail on $30,000 cash bail or $60,000 bond and is due back in court July 24.

His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.