THIEVES broke into a small branch of Sovereign Bank, on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach, Queens, over Easter weekend. But the biggest victim may not have been the bank.In a brazen feat, the thieves first broke into the storefront next to the bank, then crashed through the walls separating the two businesses and — in a move reminiscent of the new film “Bank Job” — drilled into the foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete surrounding the bank vault. They then rifled through the vault, making off with $80,000 in cash and the contents of hundreds of safe-deposit boxes.
Although Sovereign Bank is still sorting its losses and the police have no progress to report, the branch has cleaned up and reopened. “We were only out of business for two days,” said Michael Armstrong, a Sovereign spokesman.
That is not the case with Angels on the Bay, a nonprofit evaluation center for developmentally disabled children that is next door to the bank and served as the burglars’ staging point.
Not only did the thieves drill a man-size hole in the center’s supply closet, but to cover up the evidence, they sprayed the office with fire extinguishers, plugged up the bathroom sink and opened both faucets. By the time the robbery was discovered, as much as four days later, Angels on the Bay was under three inches of water.
Carol Verdi, the supervisor of Angels on the Bay and five related schools, gave a tour of the office last week. The carpets had been ripped out, mildewed sections of wallboard had been cut away and trash bags labeled “Clean” or “Wet” were piled everywhere.
Years of billing records had to be discarded, as did portable DVD players that were being held for a fund-raising raffle. But the most distressing losses, she said, were the slides and photos documenting the history of the 14-year-old center, where parents take preschool children to find out if they have disabilities that qualify them for special schooling.
“That was tough to take,” Ms. Verdi said of the spoiled pictures. “That was our treasure.”
As Ms. Verdi and her staff kept cleaning, they found several pieces of jewelry left behind by the thieves — presumably from the safe-deposit boxes. They also came to grudgingly admire the ingenuity of the thieves, who remain at large. The burglars had brought along a tension rod and rigged up a shower curtain, for example, to shield their work from the eyes of passers-by.
“If they put their minds to something good,” Ms. Verdi said, ”they could probably cure cancer.”
The office’s 10 evaluators resumed work on Tuesday in borrowed space, without the benefit of their computers or files. It will be perhaps two more weeks before their offices are usable again.
Ms. Verdi checked her watch and announced that she had to go to a meeting with the bank next door, which was offering to help Angels on the Bay. “I’ll just go through the closet,” she said, chuckling.
