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Seneca Wilson, 43, of Clark, entered the Kearny Bank (formerly Kearny Federal Savings) at Park and West Newall avenues at 4:12 p.m. April 7, 2021, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
He had on a dark t-shirt with a white logo, a windbreaker and sunglasses, as well as a neck gaiter over his face, a glove on his left hand and the baseball cap, witnesses said.
Wilson “handed the teller a note demanding money with no straps on the bills,” Sellinger said.
The former Hudson County resident also passed a white plastic bag across the counter to put the cash in and demanded the note back, he said. No weapon was shown.
A doorbell camera captured video of Wilson running southeast on West Newell Avenue with the bag full of cash, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says.
A few seconds later, a car registered to him was recorded driving from the area, the complaint says. The baseball cap was also found nearby, it says.
Wilson, previously of Bayonne, served state prison time for armed robbery out of Hudson County in 2007, records show. His DNA was on file.
Rather than risk a trial, Wilson took a deal from the government, pleading guilty to bank robbery in a videoconference with a federal judge in Newark on Tuesday, April 5, Sellinger said.
U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi scheduled sentencing for Aug. 16.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI’s Violent Crimes/Interstate Theft Task Force with the investigation leading to the plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of his National Security Unit in Newark.
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