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Rotterdam bank robbery suspect sought

By RYAN HUTCHINS, Staff writer
Last updated: 5:25 p.m., Saturday, December 20, 2008

ROTTERDAM — The Pioneer Bank in Hannaford Plaza off Altamont Avenue was robbed around 4 p.m. today as the business closed for the evening.

     
Police are searching for a man who apparently handed a note to a teller in the nearly empty bank and made-off on foot with a wad of cash into the packed shopping plaza, which connects with the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Town police wouldn't comment just before 5 p.m., a dispatcher saying that officers were still on scene investigating and that they were working up a description.

But the Times Union's long-time Schenectady columnist, Marv Cermak, was standing next the man when the theft occurred. He didn't realize what had happened until the hooded bandit was out the door and a customer who stood behind the man told Cermak what had occurred.

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People like Marv Cermak standing next to the perpetrator during the crime?

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Being witness to a robbery, sort of, a first

By MARV CERMAK
First published in print: Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Almost without exception us news hounds cover bank robberies and assorted other type hold-ups after the fact. We pick up pieces of the story after the crook has fled the scene.
     
I've been at a number of bank robbery scenes to talk to the cops, witnesses and bystanders to get information about the departed alleged criminal.

Well, last weekend at the Rotterdam Pioneer Bank, I was able to report a robbery first hand, for the first time. Unfortunately, even though the robber was only about 10 feet away, I didn't realize what was going on until he left the place.

The bank had just closed with four customers left — two in two separate lines. The thief was in the opposite line to me. I never noticed him, but I was glancing at a middle-aged woman behind him who appeared unusually fidgety. I guessed she was in a hurry and perhaps might even jump lines for service.

Next thing I knew, the same woman says aloud, "this bank has just been robbed." She also pointed out the ripped off teller left her station and went to the rear of the office.

The woman explained her fidgeting saying she was nervous because she suspected the man in front of her was up to something.

"He didn't have any bank materials in his hand — just a sheet of paper,'' the woman told me.

Turns out the paper was a note demanding the teller fork over the receipts. I overheard workers say the teller gave up an undisclosed number of $50 and $100 bills.

Bank officials asked customers to fill out a form describing the robber. I handed it back blank because I never noticed the guy who the woman in the next line told me was a man in his late 20s wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

The cops took awhile to arrive, but when a robber has split a scene, the game plan is to first scour the vicinity in hopes of grabbing a suspect. This guy is still at large.

Fortunately, he pulled off the.............http://timesunion.com/AspStori.....;newsdate=12/24/2008