FBI: West Orange Bank Robber Arrested

The suspect in a July 23 West Orange bank robbery and a string of other heists throughout northern New Jersey has been arrested, according to the FBI's BanditTracker.

The suspect's name has not been released.

It's unclear, though, whether that arrest is connected to Tuesday's apprehension of two people in a Whippany bank robbery that occurred earlier that day.

"The FBI will be releasing further information on this matter when it is appropriate to do so," Capt. Jeffrey Paul, spokesperson for Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi, said in an e-mail.

In the West Orange robbery and several others authorities have said were related, the suspect is described as a white male in his early 30s, approximately 5'10", with a stocking cap, eyeglasses and wearing all black. He entered banks with a handgun and demanded cash, according to the FBI's BanditTracker.

The FBI describes a suspect in the Whippany robbery as wearing all black with a black baseball cap and handgun. That suspect, though, is being described as Hispanic and not white. Though news reports describe two arrests in that case, only one suspect is described on BanditTracker so far.

If the Whippany robbery is connected, it would be the eighth robbery in a slew throughout the Garden State. 

The other seven include a robbery Aug. 4 at Sovereign Bank, 541 Rahway Ave., Woodbridge; a robbery Aug. 2 at Bank of America, 32 Route 46 West, Montville; a robbery July 28 at Lakeland Savings Bank, 321 West Main St., Boonton; a robbery July 23 at Kearny Federal Savings, 476 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange; robberies July 8 at Mariners Bank, 242 Oradell Ave., Paramus, and Bank of America, 392 Route 22, Whitehouse; and a robbery June 25 at Wachovia Bank, 1080 Broad St., Bloomfield. The latter three list the suspect as wearing all black, but with a baseball cap and ski mask, not a nylon sock.

The suspect in those robberies also is considered connected to a robbery attempt Aug. 9 at PNC Bank, 424 Broad St., Bloomfield. In this case, he escaped with no cash.

Continue to check West Orange Patch as this story develops.