Quarter converters sought by cops

Published 10:08 pm Tuesday, May 26, 2009

An exploding dye pack may not have kept the suspects in the recent robbery of a Suffolk credit union from converting the money they stole into usable funds.

Late Monday, Suffolk police put out a call for help identifying “two subjects that they would like to talk to in connection to the investigation” into the May 8 armed robbery of the Bayport Federal Credit Union on North Main Street, according to a city press release.

The subjects were filmed May 10 at a Food Lion on Portsmouth Boulevard, where they apparently used a Coin Star machine to convert about 2,100 quarters into paper currency.

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Police believe that a dye pack given to one of the credit union robbers exploded soon after he left that building on May 8. Two days later, police learned that stained currency had been converted into quarters at a local business with coin machines.

At that point, Suffolk spokesperson Debbie George stated in a press release on Monday, police notified area business with Coin Star machines — which give paper currency in exchange for coins — that suspects might soon attempt to convert their quarters to cash.

By that night, video cameras had caught two men doing just that on Portsmouth Boulevard.

Anyone who might be able to help police identify the men who used the Coin Star machine that night is asked to contact Detective Herbert Bruce at 514-7939 or Crime Line at 1-888-Lock-U-Up.