It takes a rare individual to commit armed robbery and bash a 62-year-old woman in the face with a gun, knocking her to the ground. But last week, in of all places Rhinebeck, that’s exactly what happened.
According to police, on Oct. 30 at approximately 4 p.m., a tall Caucasian male wearing all-black clothing, gloves, a hooded sweatshirt and a handgun burst into the Joovay Lingerie store at 6423 Montgomery St. in broad daylight and robbed Barbara Cooke, the owner of the store, then pounded her to the ground with his gun.
Posing as a customer, the gunman entered the lingerie store, and as Cooke was wrapping his selection, he pulled a large dark handgun, pointed it at her and demanded all of the money in the register. Cooke obliged him, but when only $180 was produced the gunman became irate and demanded her purse. At this point, Cooke headed for the door and was hit in the face with the gun and fell to the ground. Her face was badly cut, requiring several stitches.
Commenting on the robbery the following day, a shaken Cooke said, “I left my Soho, New York City lingerie business behind to come to the loving arms of Rhinbeck, and to have something like this happen is unbelievable.” She was surprised such a violent crime would occur in the affluent town, she said.
Her husband, Kenneth Cooke, said, “It’s because of the terrible economic situation; it’s naïve to think that the crime rate wouldn’t go up in times like this.”
Krista, an employee at a nearby store, said she was quite alarmed, and mentioned that on Thursday, during the time of the robbery, her store too was occupied by only one similarly aged woman.
She also mentioned that her store was equipped with surveillance cameras and signs indicating such. Additionally, there is a video monitor behind the counter displaying what was being taped, which was everything within the store.
Joovay had signs indicating the presence of cameras, but apparently, none existed.