Westchester Guardian/The Court Report.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Court Report
By Riohard Blassberg

Armored Car Driver Arrested
For $330,000 Robbery

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, MARK J. MERSHON, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced that armored car driver ROBERT
BLACKMON was arrested in connection with the robbery of $330,000 from an armored car courier at a branch of M&T Bank in Manhattan. According to a Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court: On September 29, 2008, BLACKMON, who had been employed
as an armored car driver for Dunbar Armored for approximately nine months, called into work and asked to take the day off from work on
September 30, 2008.

At approximately 9:20 a.m. on September 30, 2008, a man wearing a baseball cap and grey-hooded sweatshirt was standing in the ATM
vestibule of the M&T Bank located at 397 1st Avenue, New York, New York 10010. Shortly after 9:20 a.m., an armed female Dunbar Armored courier entered the ATM vestibule of the M&T Bank carrying a bag that contained approximately $330,000. The man grabbed the courier from behind, took the bag containing the $330,000 from the courier, and took the courier’s work-issued firearm. The man then placed the courier’s firearm inside of the bag and left the vestibule, taking the bag with him. Security camera images from the M&T Bank taken at the time of the robbery captured these events.

A Dunbar Armored employee advised federal agents that the male depicted in the bank surveillance photos looked like a fellow Dunbar
Armored employee, BLACKMON. FBI agents compared a photograph of BLACKMON from his Dunbar Armored personnel file to the surveillance photos of the robbery at M&T Bank, and concluded that BLACKMON was the person depicted in the surveillance photos.

Officials and employees at Dunbar Armored further informed law enforcement officials that BLACKMON, on several prior occasions,
had driven with the female courier who was robbed on September 30, 2008, and had, in fact, previously been the driver on the specific route
that was in progress on the day of the robbery.

BLACKMON, 34, was arrested in New Jersey at approximately 9:00 p.m. yesterday, and was presented earlier today on robbery and firearm charges in Manhattan federal court.

Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative work of the FBI and thanked the New York City Police Department for their assistance. Assistant United States Attorney MARISSA MOLÉ is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges and allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until
proven guilty.