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FBI says this is Victor Vasquez, 63, of West New York
Union City police tracked Vasquez after he tried to hold up a TD Bank branch off 43rd Street less than two hours after making off with $1,000 from the Guttenberg Savings and Loan off 68th Street on Dec. 14, investigators said. Both branches are on Bergenline Avenue.
“Our investigation revealed he was also responsible for” robbing the Valley National Bank in Hackensack on Sept. 9 and the Oritani Bank on Fairview Avenue on Dec. 4, an agent told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The same weapon — the end of a blowtorch wrapped in a cloth — was used in both holdups, he said. No weapon was reportedly shown in the Hudson County robberies.
Vasquez served nearly 15 years for robbery after being sentenced in February 1989, records show. Investigators told the website he wore a white hat and was carrying the weapon when he took more than $10,000 from the Hackensack bank.
ALSO SEE:
*White beard, white hat: Bergen bank hit — hard
*Oritani Bank in Fairview robbed by man with metal pipe, latex gloves
He was behind the wheel of his red Ford Explorer — which witnesses reported seeing at the Fairview robbery — when police nabbed Vasquez at the corner of 51st Street and Kennedy Boulevard, not far from his 53rd Street home in West New York, three weeks ago. Bandit Tracker Northeast (CLICK ON PHOTO)
Witnesses at the Fairview holdup days earlier gave investigators extremely valuable information by remembering that the license plate on the 1990s SUV, with beige trim and push-bar grill guards, began with the letter “X” and ended in “5C.”
Thanks in part to reliable witness accounts — which often produce cash rewards — bank robbery in the U.S. has one of the highest “solve rates” of any crime, FBI experts say.
SEE: Bank robbery ‘solve’ rate climbing as surveillance photos get clearer
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