LIBERTY, NY — On November 17, at approximately 11:50 a.m. the Village of Liberty Police Department responded to a report of a bank robbery at the Key Bank located on South Main Street in the Village of Liberty.

Responding officers learned that an individual had threatened a bank employee with a knife and had stolen over $3,000 in cash and fled the bank. Officers were able to obtain a description and identification of the individual from bank employees.

Within approximately 4 minutes Liberty Police Sergeant Robert Morse and Officer Tim Vogler located the suspect, Patrick Deese, 34 or Woodbourne, on Oberferst St in Liberty, and took him into custody. At the time of his arrest he was armed with a 10” wooden handle knife and was found to be in possession of approximately $3,000 in cash that was taken from the Key Bank.

Deese was charged with Robbery in the 1st degree, grand larceny in the 3rd degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the 3rd degree, all felonies and menacing in the 2nd degree, a misdemeanor. Deese was arraigned in the Town of Liberty Court and remanded to Sullivan County Jail without bail to appear in the Town of Liberty Court on November 30. The Village of Liberty Police Department was assisted in the investigation by the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Police.