Two area men have pleaded guilty to charges arising from the robbery of a bank in South River last October.
Steven Spearnock, 45, of East Brunswick, pleaded guilty to a count of robbery, while Brian D. Niewinsky, 48, of Sayreville, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a theft and resisting arrest, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. The two entered their pleas May 3, following negotiations with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Kuberiet.
Under the plea agreement, Spearnock faces a 10-year prison term and must serve 85 percent of the sentence before he can be eligible for parole. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29 by Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick.
Niewinsky will be sentenced to the time he has served in custody since his arrest, and faces a probationary term of up to five years when he is sentenced by Judge Ferencz on June 30.
The two were arrested and charged following the robbery on Oct. 14 at Provident Bank on Jackson Street in South River.
An investigation by members of the South River Police Department and the county prosecutor’s office determined that Spearnock entered the bank when it opened at 9 a.m. and handed a teller a note demanding money, authorities said.
Spearnock was given $7,600 in cash, left the bank and joined Niewinsky, who was waiting across the street, according to the prosecutor’s office. A bank employee followed the two men and alerted police to their location as they walked to a taxicab office on Obert Street in South River.
Police arrived and arrested the men, who struggled briefly. Police searched Spearnock and recovered the money taken during the robbery.