The publicity generated by a security photo - including
front-page headlines in the city's tabloids - led to tips naming 44-year-old
Edward Pemberton, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said while announcing the
arrest.
Police officials later said that during questioning,
Pemberton implicated himself in six bank heists since 2008. In one last year,
he showed up with roses but left empty-handed, police said.
The New York Police Department released the security
photo on Monday amid a manhunt for a robber who walked into a bank last week
carrying a bouquet neatly bundled in pink tissue paper and plastic. Hidden
inside the arrangement was a note that read, "Give me all your $100s, $50s.
Don't be a hero."
A teller gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of cash.
He fled on foot, leaving the flowers behind.
Police say the same man appeared at another Manhattan
bank on July 10 holding a similar threatening note under a leafy plant. He
reached over the counter grabbed the cash before fleeing. The potted plant
stayed.
Pemberton had a history of arrests on drug charges and
other petty offenses, police said. Charges in the bank robbery cases were
pending.
Kelly said the suspect had a legitimate - and revealing -
line of work.
"He did odd jobs in the flower district," he
said. "Very odd jobs."
