A bank teller who helped a rookie cop pull off two downtown Manhattan bank heists that netted $118,000 was sentenced Friday to 2-1/2 years in jail.
Christina Dasrath burst into tears as she told Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain that ex-NYPD cop Christian Torres walked into a Sovereign bank branch in June 2007 and gave her a note threatening to "start shooting."
"I was duped by my first love," Dasrath said, as her parents, who had opposed her relationship with Torres, wept. "I am 21 years old....They need me at home."
Dasrath met Torres when they were classmates at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She's been working as an emergency medical technician since her arrest. "Every day I help people," she said. "I try my best to make it up in that manner."
Two former co-workers who were forced into a bank vault and tied up told Swain they're still traumatized.
Isabel Sanchez said Torres repeatedly threatened her, leaving her fearing for her life. She said Dasrath watched as she walked into the vault, her legs trembling uncontrollably. "Everything goes through your mind, everything," Sanchez said.
For five months - until after Torres pulled the second robbery in November 2007 - Dasrath never let on that she knew Torres. "She looked at us in the face like nothing happened," Sanchez said.
Swain said Dasrath should have gone to the authorities after the first robbery, but instead took some of the money. "She continued to cover up and deceive people she had put at risk over several months," Swain said.
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