A wheelchair-bound Astoria man who robbed a bank last summer was the culprit in another bank robbery, this one in Sunnyside, on Monday, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Kelvin Dennison, 23, of Astoria Boulevard allegedly entered a TD Bank at 41-01 Queens Blvd. on Monday afternoon and handed a bank teller a note stating, “Give me $20,000. I have a bomb. I will shoot.” The teller proceeded to give Dennison money after which he exited the bank and fled south on Queens Boulevard, according to Brown.
“As accused, the defendant did not allow his disability to hinder him from breaking the law or frightening a bank employee by claiming that he was armed with a bomb and a firearm,” Brown said. “The defendant now faces serious felony charges.”
In June of last year, Dennison robbed a Santander Bank, located at 37-10 Broadway in Astoria. He agreed to be released from jail and entered directly into Fortune Academy’s Court-Based Intervention Resource Team program for in-patient mental health treatment for at least one year.
This agreement would allow Dennison to be sentenced to two years’ probation instead of one to three years in prison for his crime. The court later found that he was discharged from the program on Dec. 29, 2015, for not complying with residency requirements. He did not previously notify the court or prosecutors of his discharge.
Dennison was charged with third-degree robbery. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.
