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Lyndhurst Bank Robber Pleads Guilty To 4 Altogether

LYNDHURST, N.J. -- A Newark man admitted Tuesday that he robbed banks in Lyndhurst and Clifton – as well as the same Kearny bank twice.

Lockwood

Lockwood

Photo Credit: COURTESY: Lyndhurst PD

James Lockwood, 39, first eluded police on Sept. 8, when he dragged a Kearny police officer a short distance after holding up the Schuyler Savings Bank – the same bank that he admitted robbing two weeks earlier -- authorities said.

He was captured on Sept. 23 after his car overturned during another pursuit.

Lockwood told a federal judge in Newark on Tuesday that he was the robber wearing a white towel over his head who fled with an undetermined amount of cash from a Lyndhurst bank on Aug. 16 after threatening to shoot the tellers.

No customers were in the M&T Bank branch on Lewandowski Place near the Stop&Shop when the robber came in just before 4:15 p.m., Police Capt. John Valente said at the time.

He "walked directly to the bank-teller, handed over a plastic bag and demanded it be filled with cash," said Valente, who released a surveillance photo (above).

The robber "threatened to shoot the other bank employees but did not present a weapon, the captain added.

He then fled with a bag of cash.

Federal authorities said he also robbed the Capital One Bank in Clifton on Sept. 16.

Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the guilty plea. 

He also thanked the Passaic and Hudson County prosecutor’s offices and Clifton and Kearny police.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sammi Malek of Fitzpatrick's Criminal Division in Newark secured the plea. 

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