Israel Cosme, 36, of Elizabeth, was arrested on Jan. 24, nine days after federal authorities said he robbed the Main Street TD Bank in Little Ferry in an incident captured on surveillance video.
FBI agents who searched Cosme’s Maryland hotel room found “a pair of blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt that resembled the clothing he was wearing during the [Little Ferry] robbery,” Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick said Thusday.
During that holdup, Cosme “approached one of the bank tellers and handed her a note demanding money,” Fitzpatrick said. “[He] then told the bank teller that he was carrying a weapon in his pocket and that he would shoot her if she did not comply with his demands.
“He then reached over the counter, grabbed the teller by the shirt, and forcibly grabbed money out of her hand.”
A federal judge in Newark on Thursday ordered that Cosme remain in custody until the case is resolved.
Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI and thanked Little Ferry police for their role in the investigation and arrest.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason S. Gould of Fitzpatrick’s Criminal Division in Newark.
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