NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man today
admitted robbing seven banks – and attempting to rob an eighth bank while
brandishing a firearm – committing one carjacking and attempting to commit
three additional carjackings, and taking a hostage at gunpoint while fleeing,
U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Marlon Peek, 41, of Plainfield, New Jersey, pleaded guilty
before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark federal court to
Counts One through 11, 13, 15, and 17 of an indictment. The counts include:
seven counts of bank robbery, one count of carjacking, one count of attempted
bank robbery with a dangerous weapon, one count of use and brandishing of a
firearm during a crime of violence, three counts of attempted carjacking, and
one count of forced accompaniment in attempting to avoid apprehension for the
attempted armed bank robbery.
“This defendant cut a swath of violent crime through central
New Jersey for two months, brandishing guns to terrify innocent victims as he
robbed banks and carjacked vehicles,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said. “The
excellent work of local and federal law enforcement officers have taken a
violent criminal with no regard for the lives and safety of others off the
streets. The crimes to which the defendant pleaded guilty justifiably expose
him to significant prison time.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements
made in court:
From March 2015 to May 2015, Peek and others committed a
string of crimes. At each bank, Peek presented a note demanding cash from bank
tellers, including, on at least six occasions, statements that he had a gun and
would shoot. During the robbery of the TD Bank in Edison, New Jersey, on March
17, 2015, Peek handed a teller a note that read, in part, “I have gun will
shoot to kill you have 3 seconds.” In the course of the attempted robbery of
the Bank of America, Peek pointed a loaded firearm directly at a bank teller.
Peek admitted that he committed a carjacking in Plainfield,
New Jersey, on April 21, 2015, between robbing the PNC Bank and the TD Bank
that day, and that he committed three attempted carjackings using a loaded
firearm directly after attempting to rob the Bank of America in Linden on May
6, 2015. He also admitted that in attempting to flee from the attempted robbery
of the Bank of America, he entered a warehouse, took a hostage, held a loaded
gun to the hostage’s head, and forced the hostage to accompany him. Law
enforcement officers arrived on the scene and ordered Peek to drop his gun.
Peek then surrendered his weapon and was arrested.
The seven bank robbery charges to which Peek pleaded guilty
each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of
$250,000. The four carjacking or attempted carjacking charges to which Peek
pleaded guilty each carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum
fine of $250,000. The charge of armed attempted bank robbery to which Peek
pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a maximum
fine of $250,000.
The charge of using and carrying a firearm during and in
relation to a crime of violence, while brandishing the firearm, carries a
mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison and a maximum penalty of
life imprisonment. The sentence imposed for this charge must be consecutive to
the sentence for any other count. This charge also carries a maximum fine of
$250,000.
The charge of forced accompaniment in attempting to avoid
apprehension for the attempted robbery of the Bank of America carries a
mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life
imprisonment. Sentencing is scheduled for June 11.
Peek’s co-defendant, Nathaniel Brown, pleaded guilty to
Count Four of the indictment and is scheduled to be sentenced May 30, 2018.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI,
under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Bradley Cohen in Newark;
and officers of the Linden Police Department, under the direction of Chief
David Hart; the Edison Police Department, under the direction of Chief Thomas
Bryan; the Dunellen Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jeffrey E.
Nelson; the South Plainfield Police Department, under the direction of Chief
James Parker; the Middlesex Police Department, under the direction of Chief
Matthew P. Geist; the Plainfield Police Department, under the direction of
Director Carl Riley; and the Springfield Police Department, under the direction
of Chief John Cook with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. U.S.
Attorney Carpenito also thanked the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, under the
direction of Acting Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan, and the Middlesex County
Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey, for
their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Elisa T. Wiygul of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.
Defense counsel: Alyssa A. Cimino Esq., Fairfield, New
Jersey
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