A Union County man has been arrested and charged in connection with a bank robbery in Bergen County in January 2017, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced today.
Israel Cosme, 36, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of bank robbery. He was originally arrested Jan. 24, 2017 in connection with two bank robberies he allegedly committed in Maryland. He appeared this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark federal court and was detained.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Jan. 15, 2017, Cosme allegedly robbed a TD Bank in Little Ferry. According to bank employees and video surveillance, a man wearing blue jeans, tan work boots, a gray hooded sweatshirt, and a knit cap entered the bank. The robber approached one of the bank tellers and handed her a note demanding money.
The robber then told the bank teller that he was carrying a weapon in his pocket and that he would shoot her if she did not comply with his demands. He then reached over the counter, grabbed the teller by the shirt, and forcibly grabbed money out of her hand. The robber was later identified as Cosme.
When law enforcement apprehended Cosme outside of a hotel room in Maryland and searched his hotel room pursuant to a search warrant, they recovered a pair of blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt that resembled the clothing he was wearing during the robbery.
The bank robbery charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.