Thread: HE'S A COP AND 'ROBBER' ROOKIE BUSTED IN BANK STICKUP

HE'S A COP AND 'ROBBER' ROOKIE BUSTED IN BANK STICKUP
By ERIKA MARTINEZ and C.J. SULLIVAN



'FINEST' HEIST: NYPD Officer Christian Torres, in uniform, threatened two tellers with a Glock pistol at a bank in Muhlenberg Township, Pa., yesterday, police said.

April 11, 2008 --

A rookie NYPD cop was busted yesterday for an armed bank robbery in Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Christian Torres, 21, a transit officer who lives in Queens, waited outside a Sovereign Bank branch in Muhlenberg Township shortly after 8 a.m., police said.

Torres, who had traded his NYPD uniform for a black suit with a button-down shirt, approached a teller as she arrived for work, police said.

PHOTOS: NYPD Cop Busted in Robbery

He asked her a question about mortgage rates, but was told to wait until the branch opened.

When another female employee, who had arrived earlier, opened the door from the inside, Torres pulled a gun, forced his way in and demanded the two women take him to the vault, according to court papers.

He allegedly ordered them to take out bills in $20, $50 and $100 denominations and stuff them into a white shopping bag he was carrying.

The cop ran out of the bank with $113,000, prosecutors charged.

A third employee inside the branch pushed a silent alarm.

Muhlenberg police said they arrived at the scene just as Torres was making his getaway.

One of the women pointed him out as he drove away in a black Scion. Cops said its license plate was turned backward.

After a brief chase, police pulled Torres over, and he identified himself as an NYPD officer, they said.

The two tellers were driven past the car and identified him as the robber.

All of the money was recovered and police said they found a loaded gun in Torres' waistband.

The weapon, a 9mm Glock 26, was not his service weapon, authorities said.

Torres was hit with a slew of charges, including, robbery, assault and weapon possession.

District Justice Dean Patton ordered him held in lieu of $500,000 bail at Berks County Prison.

The cop, who joined the NYPD last July, was suspended without pay.

Torres invoked his Fifth Amendment right and did not give a statement to cops, a Muhlenberg police spokesman said.

It wasn't immediately known why he was in the town, which is about 120 miles from the city.

The arrest stunned Torres' neighbors in Richmond Hill.

"I'm shocked. That isn't like him," one resident said. "The cops came by a few times today, and I thought maybe he got into a fight. I can't believe he robbed a bank."

The neighbor said Torres lives alone on the top floor of a two-family house.

He also said Torres had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and didn't appear to have any family.

Torres' MySpace page indicates that he had recently announced his engagement.

The Web page, which had last been accessed a week ago, gave his nickname as "the Law," and listed his current mood as "Wanted."

Additional reporting by Ed Robinson

erika.martinez@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04112008/ne ... 106015.htm

Wow, just wow! What else can I say?