Man Robbed Monmouth County Bank Twice, Prosecutor Says

An Ocean County man was charged Tuesday with twice robbing a TD Bank in Howell in 2014, just two of several crimes the man has been charged with, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and jail records.

Christopher Gilman, 38, whose last address was in Jackson but who also has lived in Toms River, was served with criminal complaints Tuesday in two robberies at the TD Bank on Route 9 South in Howell, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

Gilman was served while incarcerated at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, on charges he robbed a TD Bank in Toms River. Bail was set on the two Howell bank robberies by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen at $200,000 with no 10 percent option, said Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Ocean County Jail records also list a string of other charges against Gilman, including robbery, burglary and aggravated assault.

Webster said in the Howell case, Gilman is accused of entering the TD Bank at 4280 Route 9 South just before closing on Oct. 10, 2014, and telling a teller he had a weapon and demanding money. No weapon was shown and the robber was wearing a mask at the time, Webster said. The robber fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, he said. While that robbery was under investigation, the bank branch was robbed again, shortly after 2 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2014, Webster said. In the second robbery, the masked man pushed a customer out of the way, approached a teller, demanded money and indicated he possessed a weapon, but no weapon was shown. Based upon the threat, the teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash and the man fled, Webster said.

Gilman is being held in the Ocean County Jail on multiple charges, according to Ocean County Jail records.

Among them is an indictment charging Gilman with one count of first-degree armed robbery in connection with the Oct. 17, 2014 robbery of the TD Bank at 2338 Route 9 in Toms River. In that robbery, the man was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and had a bandanna over his face.

Ocean County Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney set Gilman’s bail at $150,000, no 10 percent option, in that case.

Gilman was linked to the Howell robberies as a result of a joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Howell Police, the FBI, and investigators from the Toms River, Jackson and Brick police departments, Webster said.

According to Ocean County Jail records, Gilman faces charges of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury and escape from detention in connection with a December 2014 incident, with $300,000 bail on those charges, and a host of shoplifting charges in still another incident.

According to a post by the Ocean County Police, Fire & EMS Facebook page, Gilman was wanted by Manchester Township police in still another incident from April 2014, where he was accused of robbing a Pine Lake Park home and a Jackson Township home. The status of those charges is unclear.