Cop-turned-robber: I needed to pay bills

Cop-turned-robber: I needed to pay bills
The New York Daily News by Thomas Zambito - September 2, 2009

Cop-turned-robber Christian Torres told a judge Tuesday he pulled two Manhattan bank jobs because it was the only way he could make ends meet on an NYPD salary. "I couldn't afford my rent," Torres told Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain as he copped a plea Tuesday. Torres, 23, was a cadet at the Police Academy and then a rookie cop earning $32,000 a year when he knocked over a Sovereign Bank branch in the East Village - twice. He pleaded guilty to the $118,000 in heists Tuesday and faces more than eight years in prison as part of his deal with the feds. He blamed a college buddy - bank teller Christina Dasrath, who is serving 2-1/2 years - for convincing him that being a crook paid better than catching one. On June 8, 2007, Torres walked into Sovereign on Avenue A and handed Dasrath a note that said he would "start shooting" if she didn't "empty both drawers." He walked out with $16,305. Five months later, he marched into the same branch while employees were opening and put them in a vault as Dasrath loaded $102,000 into a bag.