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Teller gives greybeard gunman currency straps instead of cash in bungled Lodi bank robbery

BEHIND THE STORY: A Lodi bank teller handed a bumbling bandit a stack of currency straps instead of cash this morning — and he took off with it, police said.

Photo Credit: Courtesy LODI POLICE DEPARTMENT
Photo Credit: Courtesy LODI POLICE DEPARTMENT

“It was a pretty brazen move,” Detective Capt. Donald Scorzetti told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon. “But it paid off.”

The would-be robber entered the Capital One branch on Essex Street around 10:45 a.m. Witnesses estimated him as 50 to 60 years old and roughly 6 feet tall, with a grey beard. He was wearing dark sunglasses and a black wool hat.

Opening his tan trench coat to reveal a black handgun with a brown handle, he demanded all the 50s and 100s from the taller’s drawer, Scorzetti said.

“She automatically reached down and handed him a full package of yellow and white currency straps wrapped in cellophane,” the captain told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“He took it and ran out without even looking down,” he said. “It was a pretty bold move, considering there’s no security glass and he had a gun.”

Bank officials showed police a similar package of straps.

CVP PHOTO

“You might think it’s money if not for the bright yellow color,” Scorzetti said.

The bumbling bandit was described as white or Hispanic and about 6 feet tall.

Officers moments later stopped a suspect at the intersection of Essex and Maybrook on the Maywood border, but it wasn’t him, they said.

Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to call Lodi PD: (973) 473-7600.

SURVEILLANCE IMAGE: Courtesy LODI POLICE DEPARTMENT

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