Second Suspect Arrested in Attempted Robbery of Water Mill Bank

Police have arrested a second suspect in connection with an on New Year's Eve, a 25-year-old Montauk woman said to be the getaway driver.

Police said Thursday that Paola Zuleta was not only the driver during the attempted robbery at , but she was also involved in stealing lottery tickets from the Shell Gas Station on County Road 39 in Southampton with the same accomplice.

Zuleta was arrested Wednesday evening and charged with attempted robbery in the second degree, a felony, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor. She was held overnight for arraignment at , where she was released on $1,000 bail.

The first suspect, Stella Vassallo, 28, of Silas Carter Road in Manorville, following an unrelated court appearance.

Police said Vassallo had entered the bank on Dec. 31 and handed the teller a note demanding cash, but fled the bank without any proceeds. The chatter on the police radio frequency after the incident indicated that the would-be bank robber told the teller she would be returning with a gun.

Police said that following the attempted bank robbery they received separate reports of a woman asking cashiers at gas stations on County Road 39 for several hundred dollars worth of scratch-off lottery tickets, before leaving with the tickets without paying. One instance was the same day as the attempted bank robbery, and the second was on Jan. 2, according to police. The investigation into these incidents revealed that the suspect was the same woman wanted for the attempted bank robbery, police said.