‘Robbers’ unmasked
Can’t hide dumb flubs in 200G heist: cops
This year’s Dumb & Dumber award goes to — these guys.
Edward Byam and Akeem Monsalvatge allegedly posed as cops and wore realistic masks while robbing a cashchecking store in Queens — but were done in by a paper trail that included an email thanking the mask company for the quality of the silicone disguises, authorities said yesterday.
The dimwitted suspects, both of Jamaica, Queens, allegedly robbed nearly $200,000 from a PayOMatic on South Conduit Avenue in Rosedale on Feb. 14.
They parked a darkcolored SUV with a broken rear window outside the store and approached a female employee.
They threatened her with a gun and a photo of her home to show her they knew where she lived, a prosecutor said in Brooklyn federal court yesterday.
After surveillance footage of the robbery appeared on TV, cops received a tip that the criminals appeared to be wearing highend specialty masks.
Officers traced the masks — which disguised the black robbers as white — to CFX Composite Effects, a highend prop store.
The store shared with investigators two emails from Byam. In the first, he asked CFX if his order would still arrive at his accomplice’s Jamaica home on schedule. In the second, he thanked the store for its work.
“I’m sending this message to say I’m extremely pleased by CFX work on the mask,” he allegedly wrote. “The realism of the mask is unbelievable.”
The bungling bandits also dropped at the scene the picture used to threaten the employee — leading cops to the Farmers Boulevard Walgreens where they had printed the image, prosecutors added.
Police say they recovered a receipt from the store with Byam’s home phone number.
Monsalvatge had previously been arrested, but released on bond, for allegedly robbing another PayOMatic in Queens, on Sept. 10, 2010.
In court yesterday, the dopey duo was ordered held without bail pending armedrobbery charges.