Brother Bank Bandits Busted

Michael Sikorski (left), Wojecich Sikorski

At first, cops thought that a series of 15 bank robberies over a two-month period was committed by one incredibly industrious thief. But yesterday the police arrested a pair of brothers for the crimes.

The NY Times reports that Wojecich and Michael Sikorski, of Linden, NJ, were charged with the 15 robberies. The police, under the one suspect hypothesis, thought many of the robberies took place too close together ("For instance, four branches were robbed on March 2 between 4:30 p.m. and 6:20 p.m."), Major Case Squad commander Deputy Inspector Charles P. Neacy said, “My detectives timed it, and it was doable, but tight." Also, some of the demand notes to tellers were written differently.

The brothers, after being arrested (Michael in Texas, Wojecich in NY) eventually confessed to the crimes. And why did they need the money? For drugs. Neacy also told the Times that the Sikorski Brothers' robberies were "a major contributor to the surge in bank robberies this year, up to 97 as of Wednesday from 83 in the same period last year." Cops are also reportedly about to solve 13 bank robberies by the same armed man.