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Meeks admitted last August that he and Eugene Jones held up the Wachovia Bank on Johnson Avenue on Nov. 3, 2009 of last year, taking $28,000, and the TD Bank on Essex Street two months later, on Jan. 30, snatching $13,000.
Meeks said Jones held a gun on the tellers while he kept patrons from leaving. Both wore hooded sweatshirts and face masks, federal authorities said.
Investigators who’d been watching a van stolen the morning of Feb. 6 arrested Meeks after he dropped off Jones. During a brief chase, Meeks tossed a black ski mask and a stolen 9mm handgun from the vehicle, they said.
Charges against Jones are still pending. If he doesn’t take a plea, Meeks likely will testify against him for the government.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, as well as Hackensack police, with making the arrests possible. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark is handling the prosecutions.
Under federal law, Meeks will have to serve just about all of the sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark.
How YOU can help: Click here for the FBI’s East Coast catalog of bank robbery surveillance photos:
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