Crime & Safety

Police: Fraud Attempt Halted At Port Chester Bank

Bronx man arrested; police find him hiding in parking lot bushes as he was changing his clothes.

A Bronx man accused of trying to steal $3,900 from a Rockland County man's bank account was arrested in the bushes of a Westchester Avenue parking lot as he was trying to change his clothing to avoid capture, according to Port Chester police.

Juan Figueroa, 24, of 84 W. 162nd St., the Bronx, is also a suspect in the unauthorized withdrawal of $800 from the Chase bank account of the same South Nyack man through an automatic teller machine, police said.

Figueroa is accused of third-degree attempted grand larceny and criminal possession of a forged instrument, both felonies, after an investigation of an incident at the Chase branch at 50 Westchester Ave. in downtown Port Chester on Monday. He is accused of trying to withdraw $3,900 from the South Nyack man's bank account, using a fake driver's license as proof of identity.

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Police said bank staff would not complete the transacation because the signature on the license presented by Figueroa did not match the one the bank had on record for the real customer. Figueroa left the bank and Port Chester police were notified of the incident.

As police arrived at the bank, bank employees pointed out Figueroa to them as he was walking on South Main Street. Police said Figueroa intially eluded police officers, however, Figueroa was found a short time later hiding in bushes in a parking lot across from the nearby store on Westchester Avenue.

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Police said Figueroa was in the process of changing his clothing so he could avoid detection. The clothes he wore while on the visit to the bank, along with a pair of eyeglasses, were found tucked under leaves in the bushes.

The victim was contacted and he went to Port Chester to sign a complaint for the investigation.

Figueroa was arraigned in Port Chester Village Court and ordered held in the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla pending a hearing today.


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