Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp announces that Avery D. Spotswood, 44, of Newark, New Jerse has been sentenced in connection with the December 23, 2013 bank robbery of the Santander Bank in the Township of Parsippany- Troy Hills.
On December 23, 2013 Spotswood entered the Santander Bank in the Township of Parsippany- Troy Hills. He passed the teller a note, threatening the use of a bomb and demanding money. The defendant fled the bank and was driven away from the scene by his co-defendant Quiama Harris, age 30, of Newark. The defendants made off with $3,124.00.
Spotswood committed a similar bank robbery on December 18, 2013 at the Investors Savings Bank in the Township of Springfield. He and Harris fled with $5,200.00. Both defendants were subsequently arrested in a joint investigation by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, the FBI Newark Field Office, the Parsippany Troy-Hills Police Department and the Springfield Police Department.
On June 19, 2015, the Honorable William J. McGovern, III, J.S.C. sentenced Spotswood to seven (7) years in New Jersey State Prison, of which he must serve 85 percent before being eligible for parole pursuant to the No Early Release Act.
Restitution was ordered in the amount of $5,200 to Investors Savings Bank and $3,124.00 to Santander Bank. The restitution is to be paid jointly and severally with the co-defendant, Harris, who will be sentenced in July 2015.
On November 19, 2014, Spotswood pleaded guilty in front of the Honorable Robert J. Gilson, J.S.C., to two first degree crimes of robbery. The State agreed that Spotswood could be sentenced to a concurrent sentence and would be subject to the No Early Release Act.