The federal authorities are likely to charge the police officer accused of robbing $113,000 from a Sovereign bank in Pennsylvania. Christian Torres, who was arrested on Thursday, is now also suspected of robbing two other banks in Manhattan last year. The 21-year-old transit cop, held at Berks County Jail in Pennsylvania, is on suicide watch.
Torres's lawyer told the NY Times, "Paperwork has been filed with the prison, meaning if he tries to make bail or the case gets dismissed, that he should be detained on the pending or filed federal charges." No charges have been filed yet for the Manhattan robberies, as the NYPD and FBI are investigating those two incidents, which also took place at Sovereign banks.
The NYPD said Torres used proceeds of his robberies last year to buy a car, an engagement ring, and pay off student loans. His friends and family are shocked. His father told the Daily News that when he heard about the arrest, he drove from Miami to the Bronx, where his ex-wife lives. Ray Torres said, "He never made it seem like he was in dire financial need."
A neighbor of Torres's mother who used him as a good example for her son wondered to the Times, “What could have happened to him to make him do something like this?” But one of Torres's neighbors in Queens said to the Post, "Damn, if I would have known that s- - -, I would have robbed his ass, cop or no cop."
