Denville NJ police arrested a Morris Plains man who allegedly used a Christmas card to issue a threat to a bank teller and commit a bank robbery in December.
According to an affidavit signed by a Denville NJ police detective, the 31-year-old suspect walked into the TD Bank branch in Denville shortly after the bank opened for the day. The suspect then allegedly “passed a Christmas card to the teller, demanding money.”
The teller reportedly gave the suspect an unspecified amount of cash. As soon as the suspect left the building, bank employees contacted Denville police.
Denville NJ police immediately got to work investigating the alleged robbery. Still photos from surveillance video footage were provided to the media in the hopes of spreading the word about the suspect. The photos showed the suspect fleeing the scene in a black, four-door sedan.
Sometime later, a person who works for the probation department contacted police. The probation worker recognized the suspect from the surveillance video footage.
Police apprehended the suspect the next day at a residence in Livingston, New Jersey. The suspect’s 2011 black Infiniti M37 was reportedly parked at the scene.
The suspect was placed under arrest and charged with second degree robbery.
Investigators said that the suspect “admitted” to having driven his vehicle on Route 53 in Denville NJ on the day of the robbery.
Police also executed a search warrant on the suspect’s vehicle. Investigators allegedly found a black suit jacket, black shoes, black pants, and a black glove. According to police, all of these items are “consistent with what the defendant was wearing at the time of the robbery.”
The suspect recently made his first court appearance in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown, New Jersey.
For additional information about this case, read the NJ.com article entitled “Affidavit: Denville Bank Robber Demanded Money in a Christmas Card.”