Monmouth County Man Arrested After Belmar Bank Robbery

A Monmouth County man was arrested Thursday evening after he robbed a bank in Belmar, announced Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Daniel Rathsmith, 46, who was living in a Route 35 motel in Wall, is charged with first degree robbery. He is currently being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, on $200,000 bail with no option to post 10 percent, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Angela White Dalton, according to the MCPO.

Rathsmith entered the Santander Bank, 712 10th Ave., in Belmar shortly before 2:54 p.m. and handed a teller a note demanding cash and threatening that he had a bomb. Rathsmith was given cash by the teller and fled the scene. He was seen leaving the area in a white or silver pick-up truck.

Detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as the Belmar and Wall Township Police Departments, tracked the pick-up truck to the Roadway Motel, 1837 Route 35 in Wall, where Rathsmith was taken into custody, according to the MCPO.

If convicted of Robbery, Rathsmith faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in a New Jersey state prison, subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA) requiring him to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release on parole. He would also be under parole supervision for five years following his release from state prison.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Lipp, of the Office’s Major Crimes Bureau.