An East Orange man has pleaded guilty to robbing a PNC Bank in Bloomfield last June, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman reported.
Kenneth Grant, 47, entered the plea March 9 before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark Federal Court.
Authorities said Grant had entered the bank on Broad St. on the morning of June 13, 2014, and handed a teller a note, written on the back of a deposit slip, which read: HAVE GUN 100, 20, 50 NO DIE PACKS. The robber reportedly also told the teller not to trigger an alarm or he would shoot her. She handed over approximately $1,300, and he fled.
According to published reports, another customer — an off-duty corrections officer — followed Grant from the bank, stopped him a short distance away and held him at bay until Bloomfield police arrived.
Grant faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced June 15.
Fishman credited officers of the Bloomfield Police Department, under the direction of Chief Randy Foster, and special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.
– Karen Zautyk
