‘GRANDPA BANDIT’
Nationwide dollar-store robbery spree
He’s the real bad grandpa. Cops nationwide are on the hunt for a crook they’ve dubbed the “Dollar Store Grandpa Bandit” — a silver-haired serial stickup man who has robbed at least nine dollar stores from upstate New York to Idaho.
But don’t let the silly moniker fool you.
“He should be considered armed and dangerous,” said North Greenbush Police Chief Robert Durivage.
The mustachioed marauder — who cops say is between 50 and 65 — first hit a Fishkill Dollar Tree in December 2016, and then went on a cross-country spree in his Dodge Charger in May and June this year, starting in North Greenbush and hitting stores in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, according to the North Greenbush Police Department.
The discount-store-loving old timer’s MO is to enter the shop at closing time brandishing a weapon — sometimes a handgun, sometimes a stun gun or pepper spray — and then direct employ- ees to empty all registers and safes, authorities say.
He then forces the staffers into a back room where he takes their cellphones so they can’t call the cops — and later ditches the phones in neighboring towns after he’s made his getaway.
Given the senior’s affinity for Dollar Trees — seven of his nine targets — he may be a disgruntled former employee of the chain, cops said.
“It is possible that he has firsthand knowledge of the operations of Dollar Tree stores,” Durivage told the Albany Times Union. “The suspect may have worked for or may have had an unresolved dispute with the company.”
The bandit most recently hit a Dollar General in Luzerne County, Pa., on Wednesday, according to the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department.
Police describe the suspect as a white man, with short, white hair and a mustache, standing between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds.
His silver or gray Dodge is a newer model sporting a rear spoiler and no front license plate.