A Monmouth County Grand Jury has returned an indictment against a Colts Neck man accused of committing three bank robberies in local municipalities over the course of about a month in late 2021, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced on March 15.
Conor Kavanagh, 29, is charged with three counts of first degree armed robbery, according to a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Shortly after 1:15 p.m. Nov. 13, a person later identified as Kavanagh approached a teller window at the PNC Bank inside a Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 36 in Keyport, passed over a note indicating he was in possession of a weapon and made off with a quantity of cash. The individual left the scene in a green Toyota pickup truck, according to the press release.
At 4 p.m. Dec. 14, a bank robbery occurred at the Wells Fargo branch on Newman Springs Road in the Lincroft section of Middletown. The bank robbery was committed in identical fashion to the earlier one in Keyport, with the suspect wearing similar clothing. The suspect left the scene in a green Toyota pickup truck, according to the press release.
On Dec. 17, the Wells Fargo branch on Route 36 in Eatontown was robbed. Again, a suspect passed a note demanding money, indicating he was in possession of a weapon.
Following the bank robbery in Middletown, detectives from the Middletown Police Department developed information that led to Kavanagh being identified as a
potential suspect.
After the bank robbery in Eatontown, Middletown detectives and assisting members of the FBI observed Kavanagh driving a green pickup truck that matched the description of the vehicle that had been used in the earlier bank robberies and placed him under arrest, according to the press release.
Detectives searched the pickup truck and located proceeds from the Eatontown bank robbery and the clothing the suspect was seen wearing on surveillance footage.
The law enforcement officers also located information pertaining to a storage unit in Shrewsbury and a search of that location revealed proceeds from the Keyport and Middletown bank robberies.
Additionally, a search of the cell phone Kavanagh was using contained evidence of
online searches for local bank branches, according to the press release.
The prosecutor’s office thanked its partners with the Eatontown, Keyport and Middletown police departments, as well as members of the FBI’s Newark office, for their assistance in this investigation, according to the press release.
Anyone with information regarding Kavanagh’s activities is asked to contact Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Brian Migliorisi or Detective Jason Gold at 800-533-7443.
If convicted of any of these criminal charges, Kavanagh would face a term of up
to 20 years in state prison, according to the prosecutor’s office.