newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Two New Jersey men pleaded guilty Thursday to bank robbery charges, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Both men robbed TD Banks in different Townships earlier this year.

Angel Luis Martinez, of Camden, pleaded guilty to robbing the TD Bank on Parkville Station Road and Route 45 in January. He made his plea before U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas, admitting that he entered the West Deptford bank on January 25 and handed a teller a note reading: "This is a robbery, give me $10,000 or I will shoot you."

Woodbury police captured Martinez within 12 hours of the robbery, said West Deptford Chief Craig Mangano. Bank employees told investigators that Martinez, dressed in a black leather jacket and a black knit cap, threatened to shoot everyone in the bank but never displayed a handgun during the robbery. He was charged with first-degree robbery, third-degree terroristic threats and third-degree theft, the West Deptford Patch reported.

The second man, Joseph Pennello of Washington pleaded guilty in Trenton federal court to robbing five banks across the state between January 29 and March 10, 2011, said Fishman.

In March, a bad conscious, said Rutherford Lieutenant Patrick Feliciano, prompted Pennello to turn himself into the Hasbrouck Heights Police Department and confess to the robberies. A week before his change of heart, Pennello robbed the Wells Fargo Bank on Park Avenue and Spring Dell in Rutherford, the Cliffview Pilot reported.

At his court appearance, the 46-year-old career criminal admitted to U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano that he robbed the following banks:

• January 29, 2011 PNC Bank; Washington, N.J. $2,279
• February 6, 2011 TD Bank; Scotch Plains, N.J. $2,810
• February 11, 2011 PNC Bank; Hackensack, N.J. $3,335
• February 18, 2011 Chase Bank; Hackettstown, N.J. $8,531
• March 10, 2011 Wells Fargo Bank; Rutherford, N.J. $1,099

During the PNC Bank robbery in Hackensack, Pennello handed the teller a note saying, "This is a robbery. No alarms. No dye-packs. No tracers. No one gets hurts [sic]." He told investigators he committed the robberies to pay bills and support a heroin addiction.

Pennello and girlfriend Jaclyn Feeney were convicted in the early 1990s of robbing four Bergen County stores while using taxicabs as their getaway cars. Law enforcement officials nicknamed the drug-addicted lovers “Bonnie and Clyde on heroin,” the Examiner reported.

Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agents Michael B. Ward in Newark, and George Venizelos in Philadelphia, the Gloucester and Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, the West Deptford Township, Washington Township, Woodbury City, Hackettstown, Hasbrouck Heights, Rutherford, Hackensack and Scotch Plains Police Departments for their work in the apprehension and conviction of both defendants.

Both men are facing 20-year prison sentences on August 2 and 4, in addition to $250,000 fines.