Nassau Legislature Honors Officer for Catching Serial Bank Robber

The honored probation officer John Pacca before its regular meeting Monday for his "diligent work" in apprehending a repeat bank robber Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt, R - Massapequa, said.

The citation stems from an incident on Nov. 26 where Michael Acciarito allegedly went to his regular scheduled probation meeting at 3 p.m. after having allegedly on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa a few hours earlier. When the surveillance photos were later circulated that day, Pacca was able to identify Acciarito and linked him to a June 22 attempted robbery at the Bank of America in Lynbrook and have Nassau County robbery detectives waiting to apprehend Acciarito at his probation meeting. Acciarito was later and charged with five counts of third degree robbery and one count of third degree attempted robbery.

"Thanks to the efforts of officer Pacca, one more criminal has been taken off of the street," Schmitt said. "What a great job, congratulations."

"I feel kind of bad taking the award because everybody else in the probation department worked so hard, but I'll take it anyway," Pacca said with a grin.