A 29-year-old Monmouth County man has been arrested and charged with committing a series of bank robberies in three area towns over the course of the past month, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced on Monday.

Conor Kavanagh, 29, of Colts Neck, has been charged with three counts of first-degree Armed Robbery.

An investigation was initiated after the first bank robbery, which took place shortly after 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13, at the PNC Bank inside the Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 36 in Keyport. At that time, a man later identified as Kavanagh, approached a teller window, passed a note saying he had a weapon, and fled the scene in a green Toyota pick-up truck with cash.

At about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14, another bank robbery was committed in the same fashion at the Wells Fargo branch on Newman Springs Road in the Lincroft section of Middletown. The suspect wore similar clothing and also left the scene in a green Toyota pick-up truck.

Three days later, on Friday, Dec. 17, the Wells Fargo branch on Route 36 in Eatontown was robbed. Again, a suspect passed a note demanding money and indicating that he was in possession of a weapon.

Following the bank robbery in Middletown, detectives from the Middletown Police Department developed information that led to Kavanagh to being identified as a potential suspect. After the bank robbery in Eatontown, Middletown detectives and assisting members of the FBI observed Kavanagh driving a green pickup truck that matched the description of the vehicle used in the earlier bank robberies, and arrested him on unrelated charges.

Detectives searched the pickup truck and found proceeds from the Eatontown bank robbery and the clothing the suspect was seen wearing on surveillance footage. They also found information pertaining to a storage unit in Shrewsbury, and a search of that location revealed proceeds from the Keyport and Middletown bank robberies.

A search of the cell phone Kavanagh was using contained evidence of online searches for local bank branches.

Kavanagh was held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) pending an initial appearance and detention hearing, both to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court.

Convictions on first-degree criminal charges are commonly punishable by terms of 10 to 20 years in state prison.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office

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