CAMDEN, N.J. - Two Vineland, New Jersey, men were federally charged in connection with a Cumberland County, New Jersey, bank robbery, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Nathan L. Wallace, 28, and Quintin L. Jones, 34, are charged in separate complaints with one count of bank robbery. Wallace will appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider in Camden federal court. Jones is scheduled to appear before Judge Schneider tomorrow morning. Both defendants had been in state custody since their arrests on related charges in October 2016.
According to the complaint:
On Oct. 11, 2016, Wallace and Jones allegedly robbed a Cape Bank in Upper Deerfield Township, New Jersey. According to bank employees and video surveillance, two men wearing black hooded sweatshirts entered the bank. While one man crouched near the entrance and pointed what appeared to be a black revolver at employees, the other man approached bank tellers and directed them to place cash into a bag.
Afterwards, both robbers fled and employees observed a tan or gold vehicle with a black soft-top rapidly exit the parking lot and turn in the direction of Vineland. Security cameras at the bank and an employee also captured pictures of the car. Investigators determined that the car matched the description of a Chrysler Sebring that was stolen on Sept. 22, 2016 during a carjacking in the parking lot of a Walmart in Mays Landing, New Jersey.
The following Saturday, on Oct. 15, 2016, troopers with the N.J. State Police responded to a vehicle fire at a parking lot in Parvin State Park in Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey. After fire personnel extinguished the flames, troopers determined that the vehicle was the same car that had been stolen in the carjacking on Sept. 22, 2016.
Subsequent investigation revealed that Wallace and Jones had allegedly purchased a gas can at a Walmart in Vineland and then took a cab to a Wawa gas station near Parvin State Park, where they purchased gas shortly before police responded to the vehicle fire. Investigators also learned that Jones, who had been staying at a local hotel on Oct. 15, 2016, had been observed by an employee placing a large amount of cash in a bag. Acting on this and other information, the N.J. State Police later obtained state arrest warrants for Wallace and Jones along with search warrants for their residences. Law enforcement personnel who searched Wallace’s residence also found clothing consistent with the outfits worn by the two men during the Cape Bank robbery as well as a toy revolver, cash, gloves, and a car key that appeared to be for the Chrysler Sebring.
If convicted of the bank robbery charges, Wallace and Jones each face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Timothy Gallagher in Newark; the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special agent in Charge Michael Harpster in Philadelphia; the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Rick Fuentes, as well as the Vineland Police Department; the Hamilton Township Police Department; the Newfield Police Department; the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office, with the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Vidoni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
The charge and allegations contained in the complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.