Crime, Regional Interest

Prosecutor: Area Man Gets 15 Years for 2021 Bank Robberies, Burglary

A Monmouth County man who was convicted on charges stemming from a string of 2021 bank robberies and a burglary committed over the course of about a month has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Thursday.

Conor Kavanagh, 31, of Colts Neck, will be required to serve at least 85 percent of the first 12 years of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole under the provisions of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA), in accordance with the terms set during the Friday, July 7, sentencing hearing before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley.

Kavanagh will also be subject to having no contact with the victims, as well as making restitution, and is also not allowed to return to the financial institutions where the crimes were committed.

The charges stem from three robberies, all committed within a month of each other in the fall of 2021.

The case background …

Shortly after 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, a person, who was later identified as Kavanagh, approached a teller window at the PNC Bank inside the Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 36 in Keyport.  Kavanagh then passed a note indicating he was in possession of a weapon and made off with a quantity of cash, leaving the scene in a green Toyota pickup truck. 

At about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, a bank robbery occurred at the Wells Fargo branch on Newman Springs Road in the Lincroft section of Middletown. The bank robbery was committed in an identical fashion to the earlier one in Keyport, with the suspect wearing similar clothing and also leaving the scene in a green Toyota pickup truck.

Three days later, on Friday, Dec. 17, the Wells Fargo branch on Route 36 in Eatontown was robbed. dAgain, a suspect passed a note demanding money, 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 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 placed him under arrest.

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. A search of that storage unit revealed proceeds from the Keyport and Middletown bank robberies. A search of the cell phone Kavanagh was using also contained evidence of online searches for local bank branches.

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