Cops charge Uniondale man in bank robberies

Nassau County Police last Thursday arrested a Uniondale man, Robert Davidson, 56, in connection with three recent bank robberies in Merrick, Rockville Centre and Garden City. He now faces three charges of third-degree robbery and violation of parole.

Officials allege that Davidson robbed a Capital One Bank on Jan. 13 at 2192 Merrick Road in Merrick, a TD Bank on Jan. 10 at 290 Merrick Road in Rockville Centre and another TD Bank on Jan. 13 at 855 Franklin Ave in Garden City. He is said to have worn the same Toronto Blue Jays baseball cap at all three robberies.

In each instance, Davidson handed a bank teller a demand note and received undisclosed amounts of cash before fleeing, according to police. Bank employees reported that he did not display any weapons. No one was injured in any of the robberies.

Schools in Merrick and Bellmore temporarily went into “lockout” mode on Jan. 13 after the robbery at the Capital One Bank on Merrick Road in Merrick. School officials said their districts lifted the lockouts that afternoon after the Nassau County Police Department informed them that the suspected perpetrator of the Merrick Capital One Bank robbery had been caught, though that was not the case. The police had arrested another man, John Graham, 31, of Jamaica, Queens, for allegedly attempting, about a half hour after the Capital One Bank robbery, to rob the TD Bank at 2260 Merrick Road in Merrick, just two blocks east of Capital One Bank.

Davidson was arraigned on Jan. 24 at Nassau County’s First District Court in Hempstead.