NYPD OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO ROBBERIES FACES SENTENCE OF UP TO 10 YEARS

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a New York City Police Officer who was arrested last December has pleaded guilty to a series of robberies that took place between December, 1993 and September 22, 1997.

The defendant, Paul Voss, 31, a 10-year veteran was arrested on December 16, 1997 by detectives assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau after a joint investigation with the District Attorney's Integrity Bureau. He resigned from the Department today.

District Attorney Brown said, "The notion that a police officer sworn to uphold the law would carry out, in a planned and calculated way, over a period of six years, this series of crimes is extremely troubling. He has now admitted his guilt."

The defendant pleaded guilty today before Supreme Court Justice Seymour Rotker who indicated he would sentence the defendant to a term of from five to ten years when he imposes sentence on October 2, 1996. The defendant pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery in the first degree and two counts of robbery in the third degree.

The crimes to which the defendant pleaded guilty took place on July 14, 1993 at the Flushing Savings Bank which is located at 61-54 Springfield Boulevard; on December 22, 1995 at the North Fork Bank at 73-16 Bell Boulevard; on November 6, 1997 at the Republic National Bank at 257-15 Union Turnpike; on September 16, 1997 at the Roosevelt Savings Bank at 224-04 Union Turnpike; and on September 16, 1997 at the North Fork Bank which is located at 252-25 Union Turnpike.

According to the charges the robberies took place during normal business hours. The defendant allegedly entered the banks, approached a teller and handed the teller a handwritten note containing a demand for cash. During three of the robberies the defendant displayed a gun while he passed the teller the note. All totaled, the defendant allegedly netted over $17,000 in the robberies.

District Attorney Brown said that after the September 16, 1997 robbery took place at the Roosevelt Savings Bank at 224-04 Union Turnpike, copies of the bank's surveillance camera photos were circulated at all Queens precincts which resulted in a tip to detectives investigating the robbery that the photo bore a strong resemblance to the defendant.

Assistant District Attorney Rober S. Ciesla of District Attorney Brown's Integrity Bureau, which is under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Vincent J. Carroll and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Robert D. Alexander, is in charge of the prosecution.