Threat to blow up bank brings charges

The Amboy National Bank’s refusal to cash a check allegedly led to terrorist threat by Montgomery man.

By:Alec Moore
   A Montgomery man was arrested Monday after he allegedly threatened to blow up the Amboy National Bank on New Amwell Road in Hillsborough.
   Police charged Erik Berman, 33, with making terroristic threats, a third-degree indictable crime that carries a sentence of three to five years behind bars.
   According to Hillsborough police Lt. David Delatour, Mr. Berman got into an argument with bank employees just after 1 p.m. for refusing to cash a check he had in his possession. Mr. Berman was unable to cash the check because he was not a bank customer, Lt. Delatour indicated.
   Upon leaving the bank, Mr. Berman knocked over a sign and made a remark to the bank manager that he was going to come back and blow up the bank. Bank employees alerted police of the incident and a countywide alarm was issued for the apprehension of Mr. Berman.
   Roughly one-half hour from the time the countywide alarm was issued, two Hillsborough police officers, working a traffic detail on Route 206, spotted a vehicle matching the description of Mr. Berman’s traveling north on Route 206 near Dukes Parkway.
   Mr. Berman was charged at the scene and taken into custody while a female passenger was detained. In response to Mr. Berman’s bomb threat, the New Jersey State Police bomb squad responded to the scene, where Mr. Berman had been pulled over, and cordoned off the area with the assistance of Hillsborough and Somerville Police, who blocked off Route 206 from Brooks Boulevard to South Bridge Street.
   Bomb squad investigators did not find any bombs or any other forms of bomb making materials in Mr. Berman’s vehicle.
   Route 206 was reopened approximately one hour after Mr. Berman had been pulled over. The female who had been accompanying Mr. Berman was not charged.
   Amboy National Bank officials declined to comment on the incident.
   Mr. Berman was transported to the Somerset County jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.