A Cleveland man free on bail after allegedly robbing a bank outside Chicago stole his mother’s car and went on a crime spree in New Jersey, where he targeted seven other financial institutions, federal prosecutors said.
Serial bank heist suspect Tyler James O’Toole, 23, was arrested Saturday in Queens, Newark FBI officials announced on Twitter.
O’Toole was initially busted Aug. 20 in Glenview, Illinois, and was later charged in federal court with bank robbery, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said Monday.
After being released on bail and put on home detention with electronic monitoring, O’Toole removed the tracking device on Sept. 24, stole his mother’s 2018 blue Hyundai Elantra and drove off, federal prosecutors said.
He later held up five banks in New Jersey and tried heists at two others, most recently on Oct. 30 at a Citizens Bank in Runnemede, where he allegedly used the same demand note scrawled on a manila envelope as in previous robberies, authorities said.
“This is a robbery,” read the note, which demanded $20, $50 and $100 denominations, court documents show. “NO Trackers or Ink Packs.”
O’Toole also instructed tellers to put the loot directly into the envelope and advised them to keep their cool, federal prosecutors said.
“Be fast,” the instructions on the envelope allegedly continued. “Act Normal.”
In addition to the attempted robbery at the Citizens Bank in Runnemede, O’Toole knocked off a PNC Bank in Morris Plains on Oct. 8 and tried to rob another in Pompton Plains later that day, prosecutors said.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 22, authorities said, O’Toole held up a Chase Bank in Aberdeen before fleecing a teller later that same day at a Bank of America in East Windsor, authorities allege.
He’s also accused of robbing a Chase Bank in Lawrence Township and a Citizens Bank in Mount Holly on Oct. 27.
O’Toole, who has been charged with five counts of bank robbery and two counts of attempted bank robbery, was scheduled to make his initial court appearance by video in Newark Monday afternoon. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney.
A wanted poster for O’Toole — a Colorado native — says he’s also a suspect in more than 12 other bank robberies in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. A federal warrant for his arrest was issued in New Jersey on Nov. 4, FBI officials said.
If convicted, O’Toole faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.
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Originally published at https://nypost.com/2020/11/16/cleveland-man-stole-moms-car-then-robbed-nj-banks-feds/ on .
