Robert Fitzpatrick, Jr.
An Ocean Gate man has pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in connection with bank robberies in Toms River and Lacey Township, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday.
The plea by Robert Fitzpatrick, 35, was entered Monday before Superior Court Judge Therese Cunningham. The plea agreement calls for Fitzpatrick to be sentenced to ten years in New Jersey State Prison as to each count, with the prison terms to run concurrently. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence.
On June 6, 2019, Fitzpatrick was arrested in connection with two separate bank robberies that occurred at a Bank of America in Toms River on April 25, 2019, and a Kearny bank in Lanoka Harbor on May 29, 2019. Fitzpatrick subsequently admitted to law enforcement officials that he also had robbed a Wells Fargo bank in Whiting on April 9, 2019.
Toms River and Lacey detectives connected the dots after they determined that the suspect from the robbery that occurred at a Kearney bank in Lacey on May 29, 2019, matched the description of the suspect involved in the robbery of a Bank of America in Toms River that had occurred on April 25, 2019. The vehicle utilized in the commission of the robbery was identified with the assistance of the New Jersey State Police as well as the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission; this led to the identification of Fitzpatrick, a resident of Ocean Gate.
Fitzpatrick was arrested at his home in Ocean Gate on June 6, 2019.
