Article from Jan. 27, 1970
Suspect in Bank Robbery In Deer Park Is Arrested (Published 1970)
Federal agents and Suffolk County policeman arrested a 25 year‐old suspect yesterday in connection with the $2,605 robbery of the Deer Park branch of the Security National Bank on Jan. 16, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
The suspect,
Thomas Paul Dexter of West Islip, L. I., an auto mechanic, was to be arraigned later in Federal Court in Brooklyn on a charge of Bank robbery. The police said Mr. Dexter was arrested at his home early yesterday morning following a week of investigation by both the F.B.I. and the Suffolk County police.
Daily News, Tuesday, January 27, 1970
Suspect traced through what was said to have been a suicide note signed only "Tom" a 25-year-old West Islip man was arrested yesterday as the purported stickup man who escaped with $? from a Deer Park bank on Jan. 16. The arrest of Thomas Paul Dexter, an ex-convict, was announced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Suffolk County police. The FBI revealed only that "a piece of paper" had enabled authorities to identify Dexter as the wanted man. Suffolk cops said, however, that the week's intensive investigation, leading up to the arrest, revolved around the suspect's handwriting. Over the fence they said Dexter had evaded pursuers after the robbery by running through several backyards and vaulting a couple of fences. During one jump, the cops said, the note in which "Tom" told of his intention to take his life dropped from a pocket. He had been in a hospital not long before, after taking an overdose of sleeping pills, police said. Only about $250 was left of the bank loot, according to Detective Lt. Hugo Rommler of the county's first squad. The rest was alleged to have been spent on a drinking and drugs spree. Police said the suspect had a $32-a-day narcotics habit and was, in addition, a problem drinker. Dexter, a jobless auto mechanic with a record of arrests for burglary, grand larceny and narcotics violations, was nabbed early yesterday at his home at 308 Arcadia Dr., West Islip. He was charged with bank robbery in the holdup ? Taken before U.S. Commissioner Vincent Catoggio in Brooklyn Federal Court, Dexter was held in $20,000 bail for federal grand jury action.
