Car spotted at Lawrence motel.
By: Jennifer Potash
A man who carjacked a New York woman on Nassau Street Monday was captured Wednesday at a Lawrence motel, police reported.
Christopher T. Powell, 33, who is also known as Christopher Johnson, of Rochester, N.Y. was arrested by Lawrence Township Police at 10:20 a.m. at the Mount’s Motel off Route 1 in Lawrence Township, said Princeton Borough Police Lt. John Reading.
He was charged with carjacking, making terroristic threats, criminal restraint, theft and possession of stolen property.
After his arrest, Mr. Powell confessed to a myriad of bank robberies stretching from Rochester, N.Y to Atlantic City, including a Tuesday robbery of a First Union branch bank in Trenton, Lt. Reading said.
Shortly past noon Monday, Mr. Powell got into the unlocked car of Maryann O’Connell, 61, of New York City, while she was parked outside the CVS at 182 Nassau St, police said.
Fearing Mr. Powell had a weapon, Ms. O’Connell leapt out of her car and Mr. Powell eventually drove away in her vehicle, police said.
Despite a search Monday afternoon with the assistance of other police departments, Mr. Powell managed to flee the area, police said. On Wednesday a Lawrence Township patrol officer spotted Ms. O’Connell’s vehicle in the motel parking lot and found Mr. Powell in Room 4, Lt. Reading said.
Mr. Powell had Ms. O’Connell’s keys in his pocket at the time of his arrest, Lt. Reading said, and had other items belonging to Ms. O’Connell in his hotel room, he said.
About the time Mr. Powell was arrested, borough police found a stolen Ford Windstar parked on Spring Street the vehicle was missing since Sunday from Philadelphia, Lt. Reading said. At Lawrence Township Police headquarters, Mr. Powell confessed to carjacking Ms. O’Connell in addition to stealing the Ford Windstar, Lt. Reading said.
Mr. Powell was turned over the Trenton Police Department on the bank robbery charge, Lt. Reading said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the investigation, Lt. Reading said.

