By Jason Scheer
According to police, Barry Costa, 48, of Hempstead, was being chased by police through several towns following his latest robbery when, in an effort to avert police attention, he threw thousands of dollars out the window of the van he was driving, as well as his clothes.
According to Detective Sgt. Gary Schriffen of the Nassau County Robbery Squad, Costa entered the North Fork Bank at 115 Main St. in East Rockaway at 3:45 p.m., threatened two tellers, took $4,100 in cash and fled, running northbound on Atlantic Avenue.
Police officers from the Fourth Precinct responded, and issued a police notification. An officer from the Bureau of Special Operations happened to observe Costa driving a white van, and attempted to stop the vehicle on Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre.
Costa, according to police, had other ideas, leading them on a chase east along Sunrise Highway through Rockville Centre, Lynbrook and Baldwin before tossing his clothes and cash from the van. Costa eventually turned east onto Edna Court in Baldwin, heading toward Grand Avenue. A police roadblock was waiting for him as he approached the main street, and he was immediately apprehended.
After an investigation, Costa was charged with five additional bank robberies: one on May 16 at the Roslyn Savings Bank in West Hempstead, one on May 23 at the Roslyn Savings Bank in East Meadow, two at the North Fork Bank in Baldwin this month, and one on June 7 at Washington Mutual Bank in Valley Stream.
At a press conference on June 16, Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said that approximately $30,000 in cash was stolen from the six banks. In Baldwin alone, police said, Costa left with about $12,000. Smith declined to comment on how much, if any, of the stolen money had been recovered. He did say that a large portion of the money from the East Rockaway robbery was recovered, but that $1,300 was still missing.
Smith said that in most of the incidents, Costa wore similar clothing and displayed a black plastic bag that he said contained a gun. Costa allegedly wore sunglasses in five of the six robberies, according to eyewitness accounts.
No one was injured in any of the robberies.
Of Costa's motive for throwing the cash out the window of the van, Smith said, "I think he was trying to stop traffic in order to aid his [getaway]. He might have also thought the officers would stop to recover the evidence, but there were sufficient officers that some could stop and recover [the bills] and others could pursue."
Costa had been on parole, after being convicted of three other robberies in Nassau County in 2002.
