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Armed robber who stuck up Brooklyn ‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead gets 7¼ years

Lamor Whitehead (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)

Lamor Whitehead (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)

A stickup man who held up Brooklyn Bling Bishop Lamor Whitehead during a sermon is no Robin Hood — he’s just a “robbing hood,” said a federal judge who sentenced the crook to more than seven years behind bars.

Say-Quan Pollack tried to argue in court filings that he should get leniency for the fact that his victim was convicted in a string of frauds, including stealing a parishioner’s life savings.

But on Monday, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge William Kuntz hit him with a 7¼-year sentence, agreeing with prosecutors on how long Pollack should be locked away for the infamous, caught-on-video 2022 heist.

 

Say-Quan Pollack is allegedly pictured holding a gun during the robbery of Bling Bishop Lamor Whitehead on July 24, 2022. (Court Evidence)
Say-Quan Pollack is pictured holding a gun during the robbery Lamor Whitehead on July 24, 2022. (Court Evidence)

 

“The record reveals that the defendant was not some modern-day Robin Hood taking from the rich equivalent of the Sheriff of Nottingham to help the poor,” Kuntz said. “No, the record reveals that the defendant was simply a modern-day robbing hood.”

Kuntz offered up more than one reference to the legendary English outlaw, stating that Pollack’s accomplices were not his “merry men,” and stating, “The crimes of the bishop do not justify the crimes of the defendant. With all respect, robbing a hood does not make you a Robin Hood. Not in this court, not in this case, and not on my watch.”
 
Say-Quan Pollack is allegedly pictured holding a gun during the robbery of Bling Bishop Lamor Whitehead on July 24, 2022. (Court Evidence)
Say-Quan Pollack is pictured holding a gun during the robbery of Bling Bishop Lamor Whitehead on July 24, 2022. (Court Evidence)

Nevertheless, Pollack’s sentence is shorter than the nine years Whitehead got in June for his crimes.

Whitehead, who Mayor Adams took under his wing as a mentor, was delivering his live-streamed sermon inside the Leaders of Tomorrow International church in Canarsie, Brooklyn, on July 24, 2022, when three masked bandits stormed in. They forced the bishop to the ground and took jewelry from him and his wife — who was holding their young daughter on her lap.

“His first action was to point a firearm in the direction of the pulpit, with parishioners positioned between him and the pulpit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Schuman said of Pollack. “This is not a typical armed robbery.”

Though police had described their haul as $1 million worth of bling, so far the victims have only documented some of the stolen items to be worth more than $400,000.

One of Pollack’s cohorts, Juwan Anderson, is still awaiting sentence, while the third, Shamar Leggette, was cut down in a gunfight with police and U.S. Marshals at a New Jersey motel in January.

Pollack, who was also convicted in a 2015 string of armed robberies, told the judge he was in the process of turning his life around. He pleaded guilty to a federal robbery charge in November.

“I understand what you see on record is hard to overlook,” he said. “What you see on record is not who I am. It’s not who I want to be … I’m better than that. I know I am.”

Whitehead, who’s known for his flashy designer clothing and his “prosperity gospel” preaching, caught the public’s attention in May 2022, after he unsuccessfully tried to broker an accused subway shooter’s surrender, interfering with police and defense lawyers’ attempts to bring the suspect in peacefully.

The robbery happened two months later, and Whitehead’s legal troubles started multiplying, culminating with his conviction in Manhattan Federal Court of a $6 million string of loan frauds, of fleecing a parishioner out of her $90,000 life savings, and of lying about his ties to Adams to extort and try to defraud a Bronx body shop owner. 

Originally Published: August 12, 2024 at 7:36 p.m.

Author: Editors Desk

Source: NY Daily News:

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