Fugitive In 2011 Toms River Bank Robbery Caught After Rolex Theft In N.Y.: Police

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man who has been on the run for nearly six years following a 2011 bank robbery has been captured in New York state after he allegedly stole a pair of Rolex watches, according to authorities and reports.

Daniel V. Sable, 27, was arrested Saturday in New Jersey, two days after authorities identified him as the suspect in the theft of two Rolex watches from a jewelry store in Brighton, New York, Brighton Police Chief Mark Henderson said in a post on the police department's Facebook page. Brighton is near Rochester, New York.

Sable had been indentified as the suspect in the Feb. 7 theft of the watches, which were worth nearly $60,000, thanks to tips prompted by photos from the jewelry store's security footage the police department posted on Facebook.

As police searched for Sable, however, information came to light that he also was wanted in connection with a 2011 bank robbery in Toms River, according to a report by Time Warner Cable News in Rochester, N.Y.

Sable is accused of walking into the Wells Fargo on Hooper Avenue in the Silverton section of the township in the afternoon on June 23, 2011, handing the teller a note and then running out of the bank with an undetermined amount of cash, according to a report in The Lakewood Scoop at the time of the robbery.

According to documents from the New Jersey Regional Operations Intelligence Center published on Wikileaks, an update the day after the robbery said Sable was seen in Toms River the day after the Wells Fargo robbery in a stolen Ford Explorer with New York license plates at the L.A. Fitness near Ocean County Mall. According to the document, he sped off in the Explorer, driving north on Hooper Avenue and then down Fischer Boulevard before ditching the Explorer and running away on foot. A 9mm handgun was found in the Explorer, according to the police update.

That document said he had been released from prison in Monroe County, New York, 10 days before the Wells Fargo robbery and was being sought by New York authorities on charges of escape and grand larceny. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle said he had been service a sentence in a 2008 case where he was convicted of first-degree identity theft, second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, and third-degree grand larceny. Sable was sentenced to 3 to 9 years in state prison.

Sable was traced to North Bergen by the U.S. Marshals Task Force in Rochester, and those officers sent the information to New Jersey, where Sable was found inside a PNC Bank branch at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. That report said Sable was trying to flee at the time of his arrest, quoting the marshal's service. He was taken into custody and charged with resisting arrest, according to the report.

Sable, who has a lengthy criminal history according to the Wikileaks document, was turned over to the Ocean County Sheriff's Department and is being held at the Ocean County Jail without bail on charges of robbery with bodily injury, theft of moveable property and eluding law enforcement, according to the Ocean County Corrections Department.

Henderson, the Brighton police chief, thanked the public for the tips that poured in and thanked the U.S. Marshal's Service for its help in arresting Sable.

"This case was a great example of the excellent teamwork and coordination amongst a number of law enforcement agencies (Local/State/Federal) as well as strong community support," Henderson said.

Daniel V. Sable via Ocean County Corrections Department; image via Shutterstock