A 52-year-old Kings Park man who spent nearly nine years behind bars for a string of Long Island bank robberies is headed back to prison after admitting he robbed two more banks just over two years after his release. Brian Blackford pleaded guilty on August 27 to two counts of third-degree robbery and cocaine possession, closing out a case that began with a handwritten note demanding cash and ended with police finding stolen money and drugs on him at the time of his arrest.
According to Daily Voice, Blackford robbed a Flagstar Bank branch in West Babylon before hitting another Flagstar location in Deer Park, passing notes to tellers at both branches. One of those notes reportedly read, “Give me $10,000 cash no funny business.” Prosecutors say he made off with $3,930 from one robbery, while investigators put the haul from the other at $1,400.
The two Flagstar robberies took place in quick succession in December 2025 — the first at a branch at 653 Montauk Highway in West Babylon on December 8, followed two days later by a second Flagstar branch at 1501 Deer Park Avenue, according to the Babylon Beacon. During at least one of the robberies, Blackford implied he was armed by pointing at his waist, though no weapon was displayed.
A Middle-of-the-Night Traffic Stop Ends the Spree
Suffolk County Major Case Unit detectives caught up with Blackford at 12:40 a.m. during a traffic stop on Beach Avenue in Copiague following the December 10 robbery, where police say he physically resisted arrest, as reported by Newsday. Police recovered $2,700 in stolen cash on Blackford along with 2.35 grams of cocaine, per Daily Voice. He was captured and formally tied to the two Flagstar heists in the days that followed.
When a Suffolk County grand jury indicted Blackford later that month, prosecutors initially charged him with grand larceny in addition to third-degree robbery and drug possession, according to Patch. That fuller charge sheet gave prosecutors leverage heading into the eventual guilty plea last week.
A Decade-Old Pattern of Reoffending
This is not Blackford's first run-in with Suffolk County bank tellers. In June 2014, Suffolk County police arrested him after identifying him in a two-week robbery spree that hit seven Long Island financial institutions — including Capital One, Bank of America, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, TD Bank, and Citibank branches across Deer Park, Commack, Farmingdale, Sayville, North Lindenhurst, and Nesconset, according to a 2014 report from CBS New York. Police at the time also arrested an alleged getaway driver, 51-year-old Fitzalla Coward of Brentwood, after trailing the pair away from a robbery at a Capital One branch in Nesconset.
Blackford didn't stay out of trouble for long. In March 2015, while free on bail for the 2014 charges, he was arrested again after handing a demand note to a teller at a TD Bank in North Babylon and trying to flee in a hailed taxi cab, which officers intercepted on Weeks Road, per a Patch report from that time. Those two cases combined led to Blackford spending nearly nine years in New York state prisons, with his conditional release coming in November 2023 — meaning he was back to robbing banks within roughly two years of walking free.
Facing Years Behind Bars Again
Under New York Penal Law § 160.05, third-degree robbery is classified as a Class D non-violent felony that normally carries a maximum seven-year sentence for first-time offenders. But because Blackford is a repeat felony offender, enhanced sentencing rules apply, according to legal analysis from Portale Randazzo LLP. As a result, Blackford faces five and a half to 11 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 1.
Blackford's case isn't fully closed even with the plea. A man sharing Blackford's name and birth year faces separate pending charges for second-degree menacing with a knife, second-degree harassment, and child endangerment, with the next hearing on those related cases scheduled for September 4 — proceedings that could further affect his overall time in custody beyond the robbery sentencing.
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