A man who committed a bank robbery while being bound to a wheel chair, was wheeled into the courtroom for another similar heist.
A man with restricted mobility, who managed to successfully rob a bank while in a wheelchair, was wheeled into court to face charges on Wednesday. Though he had knocked over a Queens bank on Monday, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, he has pulled a similar heist previously. The man is forced to use a wheelchair, due to paralysis that was induced during a crime in his early days. But, that didn’t stop him from committing the same daring daylight robbery twice.
Wheelchair-bound Kelvin Dennison, who allegedly robbed the TD Bank branch, located at 41-01 Queens Boulevard on Monday, was produced before a judge to face charges on Wednesday. Dennison, 23, is accused of robbing the bank using a note that read as follows.
“Give me $20,000. I have a bomb. I will shoot.”
Though he didn’t manage to get $20,000, the teller handed Dennison $500. After obtaining the relatively modest sum, Dennison exited the bank and wheeled himself south on Queens Boulevard, reported Sunnyside Report . Interestingly, just a few months earlier on June 29, Dennison had delivered a similar note to a teller at the Santander Bank on Broadway in Sunnyside. Back then, he also allegedly claimed to have a gun. Interestingly, it seems Dennison had bigger expectations and hoped to take the bank for everything they had, because the note he allegedly gave the teller read as follows.
“Give me all you have. I have a gun.”
Dennison couldn’t succeed in bagging a lot of money, but his previous heist was more profitable. Police say the teller at the Santander Bank gave Dennison $1,212 before he allegedly pushed himself out of the bank and fled in his wheelchair, reported NBC New York .
Dennison didn’t have a lot of time with his stolen loot as police arrested him two days later and the judge remanded him in jail until Sept. 4 after he pleaded guilty to his crimes. His conditional release mandated his admittance to a mental health treatment program. If he had stayed in the program for at least a year, Dennison would have managed to reduce his robbery sentence to just two years’ probation. However, according to prosecutors, Dennison was kicked out of the program on Dec. 29.
The life of crime beckoned the wheelchair-bound man once again. Dennison attempted the very same technique at the TD Bank branch, hoping to land some quick cash, which he did. However, once again, he was arrested and produced before the court, where he confessed and explained his reasons.
“Bank robbery is not my thing. I did it so I wouldn’t be homeless. I’m sorry for my actions. There’s a lot of things I’m going through.”
Dennison added that immediately after the robbery, he went straight to the Comfort Inn and spent “some money” to rent a room, reported New York Daily News .
The judge during his previous time in court may have been relatively lenient on the wheelchair bound Dennison, but a second felony certainly won’t sit well, notated Queens District Attorney Richard A Brown.
“The defendant did not allow his disability to hinder him from breaking the law or frightening a bank employee by claiming that he was armed with a bomb and a firearm.”
Though he has admitted his guilt, and despite being confined to a wheelchair, Dennison faces third-degree robbery charges. While the jail time may vary, he is looking at up to seven years in prison. The accused, who was rolled into the courtroom, was paralyzed as a teen in a shooting. During the proceedings, he sat scowling, staring at the floor.
[Photo by NYPD/DCPI]