Cop Turned Robber Gets 6½-Year Jail Term for Bank Jobs

A former Police Officer Nov. 12 was sentenced to 78 months in prison for armed bank robbery, bank larceny and conspiracy to defraud a bank after he and his girlfriend committed several bank robberies in the city and in Pennsylvania.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered 12 of the 78 months imposed on Police Officer Christian Torres to run consecutively to the 121- month sentence previously imposed for a separate bank robbery in Pennsylvania.

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According to court documents, between June 2007 and April 2008, Mr. Torres and his former girlfriend, Christina Dasrath, a teller at the Sovereign Bank branch on Avenue A in Manhattan, conspired to defraud the bank by staging a phony bank robbery. On June 8, 2007, Mr. Torres entered the bank and handed Ms. Dasrath, who was at her teller station, a note directing her to “empty both drawers” and threatened to “start shooting.” Ms. Dasrath gave Mr. Torres $16,305 from her teller station, a portion of which he shared with her.

On Nov. 16, 2007, Mr. Torres came back to rob the same bank by making use of bank security information from Ms. Dasrath. As employees were opening the branch door, he approached them and ordered them to open the door. When one of the employees refused, Mr. Torres threatened to kill the employee and pulled back the side of his jacket to reveal the black handle of a gun that was tucked into his waistband.

Once inside the bank, Mr. Torres ordered the employees not to look at him, to leave their cell phones on a table and to open the vault. After retrieving latex gloves from a duffel bag he was carrying and putting on a black ski mask, Mr. Torres instructed one of the employees to put money in the bag.

Mr. Torres then ordered the employees into the vault, took their keys and told them to stay in the vault for ten minutes. He absconded with approximately $102,000, a portion of which he later shared with Ms. Dasrath.

She previously pleaded guilty to bank fraud, bank larceny and false statements charges on Sept. 5, 2008 and was sentenced by Judge Swain to 30 months in prison on Jan. 9, 2009.

T.H.