A bank robber in upstate New York got away with over $100,000. Police tracked his movements with surveillance cameras, but they also had a different trail to follow. Instead of bread crumbs, it was made of cash that the suspect left behind all over town.
Police say Joseph Peoples walked into the Chase Bank on South Clinton Avenue around 8:30 Thursday morning and asked for a manager. He had a note demanding money from the vault, and said if everyone cooperated quote “nobody dies today.”
With the bank employee, Peoples filled a bag with bundles of money. Surveillance cameras caught Peoples getting into a taxi outside the Hyatt hotel.
Police say he went to the railways bus station, leaving his jacket with almost $10,000 in cash in the cab. At the bus station, police say Peoples changed clothes and this time left more than $43,000 in a garbage can in the bathroom.
Peoples takes a cab to a local motel, checks in using his own driver’s license, stays an hour and then takes the same cab back to the bus station where he buys a ticket to New York City.
Investigators say he got off the bus in Binghamton. Authorities says the recently formed FBI Rochester area major crimes task force were using assets around the state would finally track Peoples down to the grand Royale hotel, where he was arrested only hours after the robbery.
They say he admitted to the crime, telling them $50,000 was hidden in a microwave, shoe box and plastic bag. So many of Peoples’ movements, were captured on video as he made his getaway.
James P. Kennedy, the acting U.S attorney, said, “It’s almost astounding to me that someone would try to rob a bank in view of the technology that exists today. The RPD together with the FBI put that technology to full effect.”
Capt. Lynde Johnston, of the Rochester police department, said, “You go anywhere, you’re on a camera. A lot of times, when they do these things, we’re watching the whole thing as it occurs. Why people do what they do, is beyond me. But robbing a bank, is just foolish.”
Authorities say they were able to recover almost all the stolen money, thanks in part to the community who came forward.
Kennedy continued to say, “If you see something, say something. In this case that’s exactly what happened and because of that it made our job, or the jobs of law enforcement agents following this person, that much more effective.”
Peoples is in custody and due in federal court later this week.
