Serial robber targeting business in Queens, Long Island strikes for 25th time
FAR ROCKAWAY, Queens (WABC) -- Police are searching for a serial robber blamed for at least two dozen holdups at restaurants and stores across Queens and Long Island over the past four months.
Just Tuesday night, a Dollar Tree in Whitestone, Queens, was robbed as it closed for the evening. Police believe it may fit a recent pattern as the suspect displayed a knife. It's not yet known if anything was taken, and no one was injured.
On Monday night, a man with a knife robbed a fast-food restaurant in Queens. Police believe he is the same suspect behind a string of similar robberies since March.
The man wearing dark clothing and a mask displayed a knife inside a Subway restaurant in Far Rockaway, made off with $600 cash and ran out of the store, police say.
There were no injuries.
The Dollat Tree incident would be the eighth robbery in Queens, in addition to 17 on Long Island.
Surveillance cameras don't seem to be a deterrent for the suspect, as the NYPD has plenty of pictures and videos of him.
He is described as between 5-foot-7 and 6-feet-tall, weighing 170 pounds, wearing two different sneakers and two different gloves in some incidents.
"He walks in, produces what looks like a large butcher knife that he uses on each one," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. "He puts it back in his pants leg when he leaves."
The FBI is also investigating the robbery pattern.
"I don't think the public really understands how hard robberies are to even to solve. Only 30 percent of robberies get solved nationwide. 70 percent of them get away with it," said Joseph Giacalone, retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College.
What's unique about this robbery pattern is that the suspect pulls off a holdup of a business with a knife, not a gun. Giacalone says the stickup guy most likely knows the NYPD is on to him, but seems to be getting bolder with three robberies in the last four days.
"He is definitely watching what is happening on the media and it's almost like a cat and mouse thing where now he is like saying catch me if you can," said Giacalone.
Anyone with information on any of the incidents is asked to call police.
