UPDATED REPORT
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR — Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are actively looking for a Caucasian man who allegedly robbed a TD Bank on Route 571 last Thursday night.
According to an East Windsor police press release Friday, the man entered the bank at approximately 7:12 p.m. Aug. 9 — and handed the teller a note demanding money.
He then fled the scene by foot after receiving an unknown amount of money where he was last seen in front of Charlie Brown’s restaurant, according to police.
During the robbery no weapon was shown and no one was injured, East Windsor police said.
The man was described by police as being between 5’ 8” tall, in his early to mid 30s, weighing 140 pounds to 150 pounds, and during the incident, wearing a red baseball hat, sunglasses, a blue and gray checkered button down shirt and gray pants.
”At TD Bank, we maintain and upgrade our security systems regularly, but for security reasons we do not disclose what these systems and upgrades are specifically,” said Judith Rusk, a corporate media relations specialist at TD Bank, which is based in Cherry Hill.
”The safety and well being of our customers and employees is a top priority for us,” Ms. Rusk said.
This past Thursday robbery was the latest in a series of bank holdups over the past few months within the region and the second for TD Bank. In the beginning of May, its branch on Prospect Plains in Monroe was also robbed — the two suspects were found the next day and apprehended, according to the Cranbury Press.
The East Windsor Police Department’s Investigative Unit and the FBI are continuing to investigate this newest TD Bank robbery.
The FBI has had a primary role in bank robbery investigations since the 1930s, when John Dillinger and his gang were robbing banks and capturing the public’s imagination, according to the bureau. In 1934, it became a federal crime to rob any national bank or state member bank of the Federal Reserve. The law soon expanded to include bank burglary, larceny, and similar crimes, with jurisdiction delegated to the FBI. Now, as then, they work alongside local law enforcement in bank robbery cases.
According to the FBI, there were 4,495 robberies committed in commercial banks in 2011. .
According to the FBI’s bank crime final report for 2011, Fridays saw the highest number of robberies with 1,042 incidents reported.
The FBI found that across the United States, the number one way robbers committed the crimes in 2011 was by using a demand note, which the bureau listing 2,958 robberies occurring via demand notes. Robberies by the use of handguns came in at second with 1,209 instances; third place for ways in which robberies occurred was by the use firearms other than handguns, which had 61 cases reported in 2011 via the FBI.
Employees at the TD Bank in East Windsor declined to be interviewed at the time of press.
If anyone has any information on this incident, call the East Windsor Township Police Department via 609-448-5678.