PARK RIDGE, N.J.—The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a man who robbed a Park Ridge bank in April.
The man, who wore glasses, a bike helmet and gloves, and had partially covered his face, went to the Oritani Bank on Kinderkamack Road at about 12:20 p.m. on April 17 and told the manager that he had a bomb.
He directed all of the employees to enter the vault with him, and they emptied the safe while putting cash into a black bag. The robber fled, possibly in a white van, and remains at large.
The FBI said the man also is suspected of robbing a bank in Pomona, New York on Jan. 24. In that robbery, he reportedly entered a Chase Bank with a box that he claimed contained explosives. He wore a blue vest with a hood over his head, a partial ski mask, red face paint, and dark clothing.
Overlapping the Park Ridge robbery, police said, an unemployed Spring Valley, New York man called local police on a false public alarm in the borough and violated a final restraining order after calling in a bogus shooting that drew a SWAT team to a local address.
First responders, including the Bergen County Regional SWAT Team, determined that the call was a false report and no emergency had actually taken place. Members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit and Park Ridge Police Department initiated an investigation to identify the caller.
As a result of the investigation, Austin E. Parks was charged on April 22. Already detained in the Rockland County Jail on an unrelated matter, Parks was extradited to Bergen County April 30.
Anyone with information about either bank robbery is asked to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. Tips can also be submitted at tips.fbi.gov.
