NEW YORK—It was a brazen crime on Kinderkamack Road—On April 17, a male suspect, claiming he had a bomb, ordered employees and customers of the Oritani Bank in Park Ridge, N.J., into the vault.
Once he corralled the innocent bystanders, the robber had employees empty the safe, then place cash money into a large black bag before escaping.
Now over seven months later, the United States Department of Justice announced Nov. 26 that Yosef Ziegler, 29, of Airmont, N.Y., has been arrested, saying he’s the bank bomb robber, and that the Park Ridge crime—along with three similar heists at banks in New York State—saw him steal a combined $233,000.
The robbery of Oritani Bank in Park Ridge had been made even more complicated by a bogus 911 call claiming shots fired at another location in Park Ridge that came in roughly the time the robbery was underway.
In May, Bergen County authorities arrested Austin E. Parks, 48, of Spring Valley, N.Y., with creating a false public alarm in connection to the phony call that sent a SWAT team to a local address as the bank suspect escaped. The two incidents appear to be coincidental and have not been linked by authorities.
Ziegler stole $30,150 from Oritani Bank in Park Ridge, the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
According to a federal indictment, Ziegler’s first heist took place at a bank in Pomona, N.Y., where he made off with $76,000. His second robbery was April 17 at Oritani, Park Ridge. A third heist came when Ziegler again claimed he had a bomb, brandishing a device in his hand attached to wires connected to his belt, at a bank in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., where he made off with $22,500. The fourth and final incident came recently on Oct. 29, when Ziegler—wielding what appeared to be a firearm, pointed it at employees at a bank in Fishkill, N.Y.—stole $105,000.
“In quick succession, Yosef Ziegler allegedly committed a series of daring broad-daylight bank robberies in New York and New Jersey,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said. “Ziegler’s alleged conduct not only put bank employees, law enforcement, and the public at risk. Traumatic events such as this can also cause lasting undue emotional distress on victims and bystanders.”
Ziegler faces a maximum term of 25 years in prison for each of the three counts of bank robbery, said Berman. Assistant United States Attorney Courtney L. Heavey is in charge of the prosecution of the White Plains Division, he said.
Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, FBI Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, FBI Newark Division, Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ramapo Police Department, the Fishkill Police Department, the New York State Police, and the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office. Berman also thanked the Rockland County District Attorneys Office for their assistance.