Bank robber nailed by own handwritten notes
THESE TELLERS have the write stuff.
Detectives arrested a serial bank robber after linking his handwriting to threatening notes he brought to two Brooklyn bank branches, but failed to get back from the quick-thinking counter workers, cops said Wednesday.
Police charged Christopher Kelly, 41, with two counts of attempted robbery on Tuesday in connection with botched bank heists earlier this month in Brooklyn.
Investigators quickly suspected Kelly (photo) because the handwriting on threatening notes used in the would-be heists matched his own.
Kelly was busted for a string of Bronx bank robberies in 2016, and was convicted of robbery and drug possession and sentenced to two years in prison. He was paroled last August after serving nine months, according to court records.
Police said Kelly went back to robbing banks on Feb. 20, when he walked into a Bank of America branch on Knickerbocker Ave., near Stanhope St. in Bushwick, about 10 a.m. and passed a threatening note to a teller.
“I just took a picture and sent it to a friend who will visit you if I don’t have your cooperation,” Kelly wrote in his note, according to court documents. “I need 100s and 50s. Top drawer. Don’t sound the alarm until I leave and give me my note back!”
When the teller refused to comply and walked away from her station, Kelly stormed off.
The next day, he popped up at a Chase Bank branch on Myrtle Ave. near Vanderbilt Ave. at about 4:45 p.m. and passed another note to a teller — who also refused to help him, forcing Kelly to leave empty-handed. “This is a robbery and I am armed,” Kelly wrote. “100s and 50s only. No dye packs. Sound the alarm after I leave and give me the note back!” But Kelly wasn’t so lucky. In both cases, the tellers kept the notes and gave them to responding officers. Detectives were able to build a case against Kelly when they recognized his handwriting, police sources said. A judge ordered Kelly held on $50,000 bail during a brief arraignment hearing at Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday. Prosecutors said “experts” matched Kelly’s notes to his previous crimes.
Cops grabbed him at an “assistance home,” Assistant District Attorney Wilfredo Cotto said.
“He was placed on a lineup. Three out of four (witnesses) identified him in a lineup,” Cotto told the judge. “They were able to get still photos of the defendant (that were) released to the media.”
Kelly’s lawyer, Lily Goetz, blasted the prosecutor’s claim, painting her client as a collegegoing, law-abiding citizen.
“He enrolled in Westchester Community Community College,” Goetz said. “He adamantly denies the allegations.”
The argument, however, left some onlookers skeptical, with one man walking out of the courtroom in the middle of the hearing, trying to stifle a laugh.
“That s--t is funny, man,” he said.