A robber in a Chelsea bank pulls a stickup (
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This bandit came armed to disarm bank tellers — with a bouquet of flowers.
The chrome-domed thief packed a romantic assortment of fresh flowers instead of a weapon when he pulled a heist at a Chelsea bank last week, using the sweet-smelling buds to hide a note ordering the teller to fork over a different kind of green, police said.
The budding thief was spotted just before 9 a.m. Thursday pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the Bank of Smithtown on Seventh Avenue at 18th Street — clutching his blooming bouquet like an anxious suitor — before entering and giving a quick nod to the financial institution’s in-house greeter, police said.
The perp had his colorful flowers wrapped in pink tissue, a tasteful arrangement that any woman would be happy to receive.
The suspect, dressed in jeans and a blue T-shirt, then made a beeline for the teller.
He held his bouquet with his left hand while removing a stickup note attached to the flowers with his right.
“Give me all your hundreds, fifties — don’t be a hero,” he snipped to the worker, still holding the flowers like a loving Valentine’s Day offering.
The clerk handed over $440, a police source said — in a bundle with a dye pack.
With his money in hand, the bouquet bandit dumped his floral array on the teller’s counter and fled.
The dye pack detonated and he ditched it.
Forensic teams are examining the bouquet, which contained yellow chrysanthemums, orange and red daisies, a stem of yellow gladiola buds, baby’s breath and assorted green leaves.
The heist came a week after the suspect pulled off another flower-powered heist at the Capital One branch on West 23rd Street and Ninth Avenue.
In that incident, he armed himself with a small potted plant and a note.
The thief went up to a female teller, set the plant down on the counter with the note under it and said, “Give me all your fifties, hundreds. No dye pack, no bait money,” referring to marked bills, authorities said.
The teller took too much time getting the money, so the man reached into the drawer and helped himself to $2,325, cops said.
The crook fled with his loot — and the potted plant.
Witnesses to both heists told cops that they never saw the perp brandish a real weapon.
Police described the thorn-in-the-side suspect as between 30 and 35 years old and approximately 5-8 to 5-10 tall.
They added that he’s been targeting banks near subway stations.