TRENTON, N.J. – A Manhattan man was sentenced today to 60
months in prison for robbing banks in Jackson Township, Fort Lee, and Hasbrouck
Heights, as well as attempting to burglarize a fourth bank in Englewood between
December 2013 and February 2017, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Eddy Cruz, 42, previously pleaded guilty before U.S.
District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with three
counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank burglary. Judge Sheridan
imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements
made in court:
On Dec. 24, 2013, Cruz entered a PNC Bank in Jackson
Township and handed a bank teller a note demanding money. After the teller
handed him some cash, Cruz fled the scene. Cruz also robbed a TD Bank in Fort
Lee on Feb. 13, 2017, and a TD Bank in Hasbrouck Heights on Feb. 18, 2017.
During both robberies, Cruz wore a mask to disguise his identity and handed the
tellers notes demanding cash.
On Feb. 24, 2017, law enforcement officers tracked Cruz’s
car, which had been spotted at one of the earlier bank robberies, to a location
in Manhattan. That same day, Cruz drove to yet another TD Bank in Englewood
where he was apprehended moments before he robbed the bank in a similar
disguise to what he wore during the previous two bank robberies.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced
Cruz to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of
$10,556.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents with the
FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark
and Special Agent in Charge John Brosnan in New York; the Bergen County
Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Dennis Calo; the
Fort Lee Police Department, under the direction of Chief Keith M. Bendul; the Hasbrouck
Heights Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael J. Colaneri;
the Roxbury Police Department, under the direction of Chief Marc Palanchi; the
Paramus Police Department, under the direction of Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg; and
the Jackson Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief Matthew
Kunz, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the
Greenburgh, New York, Mount Pleasant, New York, and Yonkers, New York, police
departments, as well as the New York Police Department for their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Joshua L. Haber of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark
Defense counsel: Linda Foster Esq., Assistant Federal Public
Defender, Newark
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