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MONROE: Manhunt nabs TD Bank heist bandits

By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
   MONROE — Two men police believe robbed the TD Bank on Prospect Plains Road Wednesday afternoon are now in jail, police said.
   John A. Perez, 26, of Brooklyn and Eric J. Zankel, 25, of Freehold in Monmouth County were apprehended in two of the township’s senior communities Wednesday evening following the 4:09 bank robbery, police said.
   According to police, the two men allegedly showed up at the bank in a taxi around 4 p.m. and Mr. Perez allegedly went into the bank and gave a teller there a note demanding money.
   Police said the teller complied and Mr. Perez left the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash and returned to the taxi in the bank’s parking lot.
   Once inside the cab, however, the driver noticed something amiss with the employees inside the bank and stopped the car.
   The two suspects exited the taxi and then ran east on Prospect Plains Road and into the woods next to the two adult communities of Concordia and Greenbriar at Whittingham.
   Police said the men made “several” unsuccessful attempts to get residents to let them into their homes.
   Mr. Perez was eventually able to secure a ride from one of the residents at Concordia, but was taken into custody at the gatehouse of the community at 6:46 p.m. by Monroe Police Capt. Michael E. Lloyd and Jamesburg Lt. James Craparotta, according to police.
   State Trooper C.E. Travis arrested Mr. Zankel on Birmingham Lane in the Greenbriar at Whittingham adult community at 8:36 p.m., according to police.
   Mr. Perez was charged with robbery, making terroristic threats, burglary, resisting arrest and obstructing the administration of law, police said.
   He is lodged in the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $250,000 bail with no 10 percent option, according to police.
   Mr. Zankel was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary and resisting arrest. He is also being held at the jail in lieu of $150,000 with no 10 percent option, according to police.