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Hours after the FBI posted a reward for his capture, state parole officers last summer arrested Quentin Morales, 25.
Morales, 25, worn "some form of dark hat or head covering, a long-sleeved shirt or jacket, black or orange sunglasses, and/or what appeared to be prescription glasses" during the holdups -- and used a demand note each time, the FBI said at the time.
“You are being robbed. Give me all your large bills. No alarms. No dye packs. You got 10 seconds,” read the note in the July 13 robbery of the Wells Fargo Main Avenue branch in Clifton.
At least twice, "Morales said he had a gun and urged bank tellers to hurry," U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Morales told a federal judge in Trenton on Tuesday that he also robbed:
- A Wells Fargo branch on Passaic Avenue in Kearny on June 24;
- A Capital One branch on South Elmora Avenue in Elizabeth on June 27;
- A Wells Fargo on Boulevard in Kenilworth on June 30;
- A Wells Fargo on North Wood Avenue in Linden on July 6;
- A Wells Fargo on Stuyvesant Avenue in Union on June 25.
Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI’s Violent Crimes/Interstate Theft Task Force with the investigation leading to today’s plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Allende of his Criminal Division in Trenton.
He also thanked the N.J. State Parole Board and police in Kearny, Elizabeth, Kenilworth, Linden, Clifton, Union Township and Newark police, as well as the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan scheduled a May 14 sentencing in U.S. District Court in Trenton.
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