An ex-lieutenant with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office was recently sentenced to 8 years in NJ State Prison for robbing a bank in Boonton, New Jersey.

According to authorities, the 71-year-old defendant walked into the Santander Bank on April 30, 2014 and approached a female bank teller. The defendant then reportedly threatened to shoot the bank employee unless she gave him cash. The defendant got away with $2,750 in cash.

Just one day prior to the robbery, workers at the Valley National Bank located in Landing NJ saw a suspicious man in their lobby. The employees watched the man leave the bank and then wrote down his license plate number, which reportedly matched the defendant’s license plate number.

After the Santander Bank robbery, police released surveillance camera footage of the defendant allegedly committing the theft. Employees at the Landing bank saw the footage and contacted police with information about the suspicious man’s motor vehicle.

When he committed the Santander bank robbery, the defendant lived at the Red Roof Inn, a motel located on Route 46 in Parsippany, NJ. Police located the defendant at the motel and arrested him.

The defendant later pleaded guilty to charges of second degree robbery. Now the defendant has been sentenced to serve 8 years in NJ State Prison. At the sentencing hearing in Morris County Superior Court, located in Morristown, the judge handed down the harsh sentence.

The defendant will have to serve a minimum of 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for release on parole.

According to officials, the defendant will get credit for 1 year that he has already served in Morris County Jail.

The sentence was unforgiving because the defendant is a repeat offender in New Jersey. The sentencing judge noted that the defendant had previously been convicted of bank robbery in Livingston, New Jersey. The defendant served roughly 4 years in federal prison for the Livingston bank robbery.

Additionally, the defendant had been charged with robbery and unlawful possession of a weapon in Clifton NJ while he was still employed by the Essex County Sheriff’s Office. He retired from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office a short time after that incident.

 

For more information about this case, read the NJ.com article entitled “Retired Essex Cop Sentenced to 8 Years for Bank Robbery, Report Says.”