Martin Brown, 56, and his alleged getaway driver, Bienka Jean-Charles, 27, allegedly held up three banks this month.
LAWRENCE -- A Trenton man and his girlfriend face charges they robbed three banks in August after police followed them from the latest heist Tuesday in Lawrence.
Martin Brown, 56, of Trenton, and Bienka Jean-Charles, 27, of Lawrence, are charged with the hold-up of the PNC Bank branch on Lawrence Road Tuesday, and the Aug. 3 robbery of the Santander branch on Princeton Pike in Lawrence.
Martin Brown Brown and Jean-Charles, of Barnett Road in Lawrence, also will be charged by Trenton police with the Aug. 11 robbery of the Bank of America on Hamilton Avenue in the city, police said.
Brown is a convicted killer who strangled his niece in Trenton in 1998. He was released from state prison in 2015, records show.
He was originally charged with murder in the death of LaTasha Capers, but pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in 2001 and admitted to choking the 19-year-old to death during an argument in her Coolidge Avenue apartment. Brown was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 17 years behind bars.
Lawrence police say Brown wore disguises in the robberies and Jean-Charles was his getaway driver.
On Tuesday, Lawrence officers and detectives arrived at the 11:47 a.m. robbery at the PNC branch and saw Jean-Charles and Brown in a Honda sport-utility vehicle, police said. They followed them to Jean-Charles' home on Barnett Road.
Detectives took the them into custody at 2 p.m. Tuesday without incident. Lawrence police spokesman Detective Sgt. Joe Lech said the two are apparently dating.
Trenton police publicize photo of bank robber
Lawrence police on Tuesday detailed the three robberies Brown and Jean-Charles allegedly committed:
- On Aug. 3, at the Santander Bank on the corner of Princeton Pike and Franklin Corner Road in Lawrence, Brown allegedly wore dark clothing, a fake mustache, large sunglasses, a bushy wig and baseball cap. He handed a teller a note demanding money and ran out with $6,090. He headed towards Princeton Pike and witnesses saw hm getting into a Honda CRV driven by Jean-Charles.
- On Aug. 11, Brown allegedly wore a multi-colored hat with fake dreadlocks, a fake mustache and large sunglasses inside the Bank of America on Hamilton Avenue. He gave a teller note and received about $5,000 and was last seen on foot walking toward Columbus Park.
- On Tuesday, at the PNC branch at the corner of Lawrence Road and Lawrenceville-Pennington Road, Brown was clad in dark clothing and again sporting a fake mustache, large sunglasses and multi-colored hat with fake dreadlocks when he slid a note to a teller. He allegedly left the bank with $4,987 and was picked up by Jean-Charles in the Honda CRV.
Brown is charged with two counts of second-degree robbery and two counts of third-degree theft for the Lawrence crimes and is currently being held on $150,000 bail at the Mercer County jail in Hopewell Township.
Jean-Charles is charged with the same counts and being held on $100,000 bail at the jail.
The New Jersey Division of Parole and the FBI assisted Lawrence and Trenton detectives in the investigation.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.