Fair 16°
Police & Fire
FAMILY AFFAIR: Philly Man Admits Attempted Armed Bucks County Bank Robbery With Sons FAMILY AFFAIR: Philly Man Admits Attempted Armed Bucks County Bank Robbery With Sons
Family Affair: Philly Man Admits Attempted Armed Bucks County Bank Robbery With Sons A Philadelphia man admitted to an attempted armed bank robbery in Bucks County in which his two sons were his accomplices, authorities said. In Jan. 2018, Ronald DeWitt Vines, 47, was charged by Indictment for attempting to commit armed robbery of the PNC Bank branch on Buck Road in Holland in late 2017, according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. On the day of the incident, Vines placed a handgun against the side of a bank employee’s head, forcing her to open the bank door as she arrived for work that morning, and then forcing her inside the bank, auth…

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by Nicole Acosta
News
Three Bank Robberies With Shot Fired Send NJ Man To Fed Pen For 45 Years Three Bank Robberies With Shot Fired Send NJ Man To Fed Pen For 45 Years
Three Bank Robberies With Shot Fired Send NJ Man To Fed Pen For 45 Years A South Jersey man was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for robbing three banks at gunpoint within weeks of each other, taking more than $22,000 combined and firing a shot at a customer. Stephan Byrd, 46, of Vineland will have to serve just about all of the sentence – meaning he’d have to live at least to 90 before he could again see freedom – because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Rejecting a deal from the government, Byrd went to trial and was convicted in federal court in Camden in April 2019. It began in June 2014, when Byrd robbed the Ocean City Home Bank in Ma…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Lehigh Valley Man, 30, Nabbed In Hunterdon County Bank Robbery Lehigh Valley Man, 30, Nabbed In Hunterdon County Bank Robbery
Lehigh Valley Man, 30, Nabbed In Hunterdon County Bank Robbery A Lehigh Valley man has been arrested in connection with the June robbery of TD bank in Hunterdon County, authorities said. Felix E. Gil, 30, was identified as a suspect in the June 30 robbery of TD Bank on Route 22 West in Whitehouse Station, Readington Township Police said Monday. Gil was arrested July 21 after two search warrants carried out at his Allentown home turned up evidence linking him to the robbery, police said. Gil was charged with second-degree robbery, third-degree theft and fourth-degree theft from a person, police said. He was being held at Lehigh County Jail pending ext…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
South Jersey Dad, Philly Son Arrested By US Marshals After Armed Bank Robbery, Prosecutor Says South Jersey Dad, Philly Son Arrested By US Marshals After Armed Bank Robbery, Prosecutor Says
South Jersey Dad, Philly Son Arrested By US Marshals After Armed Bank Robbery, Prosecutor Says A father from South Jersey and his son, from Philadelphia, have been arrested by U.S. Marshals in connection with an alleged bank robbery, authorities said. The alleged heist of an undisclosed amount of cash occurred on April 26 at Fulton Bank in Voorhees Township, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer and Voorhees Township Police Chief Louis Bordi. One of the suspects was arrested at his home in Camden County last month, while the second was arrested in Philadelphia on Monday, Mayer and Bordi said in a statement. Jermaine Johnson, 43, of Haddonfield, NJ, was arre…

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by Jon Craig
News
Parents Seek Answers Following In-Custody Death Of Autistic Son Tied To NJ, CT, PA Bank Holdups Parents Seek Answers Following In-Custody Death Of Autistic Son Tied To NJ, CT, PA Bank Holdups
Parents Seek Answers Following In-Custody Death Of Autistic Son Tied To NJ, CT, PA Bank Holdups UPDATE: A 23-year-old Cleveland man with autism who was accused of five bank robberies and two other attempts in New Jersey – and suspected in a dozen others in Connecticut and Pennsylvania – has died in federal custody in Chicago. Federal authorities hadn’t yet explained to his parents how Tyler James O’Toole died after being hospitalized last month, however, according to a published report. O’Toole was awaiting trial on charges of robbing a bank Glenview, Illinois when he cut off his monitoring bracelet, stole his mother's 2018 Hyundai Elantra and went on a holdup spree last fall, federal…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Serial Philadelphia Bank Robber Gets 9 Years Behind Bars Serial Philadelphia Bank Robber Gets 9 Years Behind Bars
Serial Philadelphia Bank Robber Gets 9 Years Behind Bars A Philadelphia bank robber is facing nine years behind bars for a nearly six-month-long crime spree during which he robbed eight banks and businesses, authorities said. Gerald Griffith, also known as “Jerry Porecca,” 47, pleaded guilty in December 2019 to two counts of bank robbery, two counts of armed bank robbery, and four counts of Hobbs Act robbery, Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said. The charges arose from a drug-fueled crime spree between July and December 2018, during which Griffith robbed or attempted to rob four separate banks, as well as four …

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by Nicole Acosta