Titusville man is charged with TD Bank robbery

By: John Tredrea – Staff Writer
Christopher Kerins, 53, of 153 Church Road, Titusville, has been charged with robbing the TD Bank, 5 North Route 31, Pennington.
Rebekah Carmichael, spokeswoman for the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Trenton, said Mr. Kerins, who is being held by federal authorities, appeared Monday morning before United States Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni.
Authorities say Mr. Kerins, a former Trenton police officer – who already served time for bank robbery – allegedly arrived at the TD Bank shortly after it opened on Aug. 8. He walked quickly over to a bank teller – who stated "How can I help you?" – and threw a black garbage bag over the counter, saying, "I have a gun. Put money in the bag quickly." This was the first of two exchanges between the suspect and the teller.
The teller emptied her drawer – including marked bait money – into the bag and tripped the silent alarm.
A later audit determined, according to Stephen J. Montgomery, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that "$1,423 in assorted United States currency was missing from the teller’s drawer and were the proceeds of the bank robbery."
A witness saw Mr. Kerins running from the area, carrying a garbage bag. The witness wrote down the license plate number (JVX-54Y) of the car, a red-colored Hyundai, in which Mr. Kerins fled and gave that number to employees of the bank. The information was called in to Pennington Borough police.
Pennnington Sgt. Steve Friedman arrived moments later and "did an excellent job" of coordinating the investigation, Pennington Police Director William Meytrott said Tuesday.
The license plate number the witness had written down was run through the computer system of the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles. Police found that the car Mr. Kerins had driven is registered to his mother, who lives on Church Road.
Since Church Road is in Hopewell Township, that residence was staked out by township Patrolman Lincoln Karnoff. When Mr. Kerins arrived home about two hours after the robbery, he was taken into custody by Officer Karnoff without incident, township police Chief George Meyer said Tuesday.
At township police headquarters, authorities found a total of $1,377 on Mr. Kerins’ person -including the marked bait money, Special Agent Montgomery stated in the criminal complaint. If convicted of the bank robbery charge, Mr. Kerins faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Mr. Kerins also faces up to three additional years in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release following a previous federal conviction for bank robbery.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited the FBI, under the direction of Michael B. Ward in Newark, along with the Pennington Borough Police Department, Hopewell Township Police Department, and the U.S. Probation Office, District of New Jersey, for the work leading to the identification and apprehension of the defendant.