Thumb print leads to alleged Stamford bank robber Print left on note given to teller leads to suspect

Jeffrey Vanech Jeffrey Vanech Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Thumb print leads to alleged Stamford bank robber 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD -- Police say Jeffrey Vanech's alleged scheme to get away with the First County Bank on High Ridge Road Tuesday morning was doomed from the start.

They arrested the Stamford resident and convicted sex offender Tuesday night in a Bridgeport flop house 12 hours after police say he walked into the bank.

Vanech, 43, of 95 Intervale Road, was arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges of second-degree robbery, third-degree larceny, violation of probation and third-degree robbery at the Stamford courthouse. Judge Bruce Hudock more than doubled Vanech's bond to $1,050,000, and scheduled him to return to court on May 22. Vanech's lawyer, Stephen Carriero, made not-guilty pleas on Vanech's behalf, and declined to comment on the case.

This was the second of recent bank robberies in which Stamford police have been able to make an arrest within 24 hours. In January, a suspect was charged in the robbery of First County Bank just 12 hours after the crime occurred.

Good investigative and forensic work allowed the quick arrests, Police Capt. Richard Conklin said.

"My hat is off to Sgt. Anthony Lupinacci and his crew for their fine police work and the fine forensic work from Cory Caserta ... This was really excellent police work all the way around, and it is not out of the ordinary for all these officers involved. People know we clear these cases and these types of crimes aren't all that common around here because they know there is a good chance we are going to catch them in Stamford."

Around 9 a.m. Tuesday, a man walked into the bank wearing a black hoodie, black cap, neon yellow gloves and a bandanna over his face, and put a black knapsack on the counter of the teller closest to the front door, according to police. He passed a note saying he did not want to hurt the teller, but wanted large bills, and said, "Give me hundreds, hundreds, hundreds." After the teller stuffed money into the robber's bag, the robber walked out the front door and disappeared from sight.

Conklin said the break in the case that led to the quick arrest was a piece of forensic evidence -- the note he used to demand money from the teller. The note was folded in half, and police believe the robber held down the piece of paper with his right thumb while folding the note.

When Identification Officer Cory Caserta sprinkled magnetic powder on it, a clear thumbprint appeared. The print was so good, at first it had police worried, Conklin said.

"Cory got a real pristine print. But when you get a print that good, you hope it doesn't belong to somebody like the teller, or someone else who handled the note prior," Conklin said. At the police station, Caserta was quickly able to determine that the teller did not get his prints on the note.

"The print comes back and it's not the teller and we are really excited," Conklin said. "The print comes back to Jeffrey Vanech, who we know very well and for whom we are holding an active robbery arrest warrant. That got everybody really excited."

Surveillance cameras also helped the investigators immensely. They found a clip with a glimpse of a taxi cab leaving Burger King, just a couple doors down from the bank, just after the robbery.

Conklin said calls to local cab companies determined that a cab had picked up two men at the Stamford railroad station and taken them to the Burger King on High Ridge Road, a couple blocks down from the First County Bank. The two were at the fast-food restaurant for a short time, and then had the cab take them to the South Norwalk railroad station, Conklin said. There, other cameras showed two men get out of a Stamford cab and walk into the station, but they quickly exited and caught a second cab, Conklin said.

The cabbie told police he had taken the two men to Bridgeport and dropped them off on Lenox Avenue, "a place known for drug sales and drug use," Conklin said.

After officers went to Lenox Avenue and showed pictures of Vanech, someone pointed them to a nearby rooming house. Police found Vanech there, they said.

"He was pretty banged up from using narcotics. It looked like a portion of the money was immediately spent on drugs," Conklin said. Sitting next to the drugged up Vanech, police said, was the bandanna and yellow neon gloves used in the robbery.

Conklin said Vanech still had about $775 from the robbery. Conklin said he did not yet know how much money was stolen in total.