FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: NOVEMBER 16, 2012
RE: PRESS RELEASE – PEOPLE V RYAN NOVICK
Ryan Novick, age 31,
of Rochester, New York, was convicted by an Ulster County Jury of Robbery in
the third degree and Grand Larceny in the third degree, yesterday, November 15,
2012. Novick was considered by
authorities as the ring leader of a “gang” of four individuals who had been
travelling through New York State committing bank robberies. Seven bank
robberies have been attributed to this group committed between the City of
Rochester and Ulster County this Spring.
On April 10, 2012
around 1:00 PM one of Novick’s accomplices, John Streb, entered the Sawyer
Savings Bank and passed a manila envelope to a bank clerk, upon which was
written “I got a gun. Give me all the money, not the dye pack and you will not
get hurt.” Novick and another
accomplice, Amanda Muhs, were in a gray SUV circling the driveway to a local
health facility three buildings away.
When Streb left the bank he ran to the getaway car and Novick picked him
up and fled the scene, travelling to the New York State Thruway and heading
south. Unbeknownst to the bank robbers,
Novick’s circling of the getaway vehicle in the parking lot attracted the
attention of one of the doctors at the facility, Dr. Robert Martin. When Dr. Martin saw Streb run to the vehicle
and, almost simultaneously heard the police sirens, he deducted that a crime
had just been committed. Dr. Martin called 911 and ran to his vehicle and
followed the getaway car, while alerting the police. Novick drove the vehicle south on the thruway
and pulled into the Ruby Service Station.
He and Muhs got out of the vehicle and were seen on video entering the
restaurant. When they saw the police from
inside the restaurant Novick and Muhs went into the ladies room and hid
approximately $6,000.00 cash in one of the stalls there. It was later determined that that money had
been taken from the Herkimer County burglary the day before. Novick then fled
on foot and was eventually apprehended.
Muhs was hiding in the ladies room and was taken into custody without
incident. Streb, the third codefendant,
was found on the floor of the getaway vehicle with the proceeds from the Sawyer
Savings Bank robbery along with the hat and glasses he was wearing when he
committed the robbery.
The trial was
presided over by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams. Attorney Brian Rounds represented the
defendant. The case was prosecuted by
Assistant District Attorney Michael Kavanagh.
