Police Search For a Serial Bank Robber

Police are asking for the public's help in identifying a bank robber who has stolen money from at least eight banks around Manhattan.

The spree of robberies began in March, police said, when the unidentified man entered a Sovereign Bank on East 63rd Street and Third Avenue, demanded cash from a teller, and fled after receiving the money. Since then, the man has robbed seven more locations in Manhattan — four Capitol One banks, a Key Bank, a Washington Mutual bank, and another Sovereign Bank — in similar fashion, either by verbally asking for cash or passing a note, police said. Most recently, the suspect entered a Capitol One bank on September 11 and demanded cash from the teller, who handed over the money before the man fled the scene. Except for a Capitol One bank at 1 Penn Plaza, the robberies have all taken place on the East Side of Manhattan, either in midtown, Kips Bay, or the Upper East Side.

Police describe the suspect as a black male, approximately 35 years old, weighing 220 pounds. He was last spotted wearing a beige baseball cap, brown T-shirt, and dark wraparound sunglasses.