A woman accused of serving as the getaway driver for her friend during a couple of bank robberies recently attempted to withdraw her guilty plea.
The 31-year-old suspect allegedly helped her friend, a 44-year-old Newark man, commit bank robberies in Parsippany and Springfield, New Jersey. The thefts occurred at the Investors Savings Bank in Springfield NJ and a Santander Bank in Parsippany NJ during December 2013.
According to authorities, the suspect netted $450 as a result of the bank robberies.
In May 2015, the suspect pleaded guilty to the bank robbery charges after reaching a plea deal with Morris County prosecutors. The plea agreement reportedly called for the suspect to serve a sentence of six years in NJ State Prison.
The suspect recently appeared in Morris County Superior Court, located in Morristown NJ, and attempted to withdraw her guilty plea. However, the superior court judge refused to let the suspect rescind her guilty plea because she seemed to be basing her decision on “a whimsical change of mind.”
The suspect was attempting to withdraw her guilty plea so that she could avoid a prison sentence entirely and instead be admitted into the Morris County Drug Court program.
At the recent court hearing, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office argued that the suspect is ineligible for drug court because her crimes were theft-related, not drug-related. The suspect’s attorney countered that the suspect only committed the bank robberies so that she could feed her drug habit.
The suspect’s defense attorney also said that his client did not realize she would be serving as the getaway driver in the bank robberies until it was too late.
Now the suspect is still set to be sentenced to state prison time when she returns to Morris County Superior Court on February 26. She will be required to serve a minimum of 85 percent of her sentence before she becomes eligible for release on parole.
For further information about this case, access the DailyRecord.com article, “Judge: Parsippany Bank Robber Can’t Withdraw Plea.”
