Driver of armored car heist accomplice

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Author Message   Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 4022 Registered: 1-2004 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:36 am:        Cops call driver of armored car heist accomplice Thursday, February 16, 2006 BY KATIE WANG AND JONATHAN SCHUPPE Star-Ledger Staff Their scheme was a brazen one, police say, hatched earlier this week by four middle-aged guys, one with the last name Crooks. Evrol S. Dean, a driver with Dunbar Armored Car Service, would leave the passenger door of his truck unlocked while he made a scheduled pickup of about $1.1 million from a Livingston bank Tuesday afternoon, police say. His two buddies would slip in while Dean and his partner were in the bank, then stick them up when they returned with the money, hijack the truck, and escape in a black Jeep Cherokee driven by a third cohort. That was the plan. But plans don't always work out. Instead, these bumbling bandits got into a shootout in Livingston, crashed into an unmarked police vehicle in South Orange, fishtailed off the road and got stuck in the snow, then led the police on a foot chase through the woods, where the three men in the getaway car were caught. "I wouldn't be putting this on my résumé as an armored car robber," said Special Agent Steven Siegel, spokesman for the FBI's office in Newark. Yesterday police announced they had captured a fourth suspect -- Dean, a short, pudgy Dunbar employee, who initially appeared heroic for spraying shots at the suspects while his partner, an unidentified guard who was shot and injured, jumped out of the moving armored car. Turns out it was just a dangerous act to mask an inside job, say police. "If he was just shooting to fire, certainly there was a chance of ricochet striking not only an individual directly involved or a passerby," said Livingston Police Chief Michael Erb. Siegel said investigators realized Dean was part of the heist when his statements failed to stack up. Dean, 41, and his partners, Dalton Crooks, 40, John Low, 38, and Marvin Tillman, 40, were in U.S. District Court in Newark yesterday to be arraigned. Crooks' right arm was bound in a cast -- an agonizing reminder of their bungled job -- hurt when the door of the Jeep slammed shut on it as he tried to sprint into the woods. Dean, dressed in a white undershirt, wiped tears from his face while his younger sister glared at him across Judge Ron Hedges' courtroom. "I would rather die than to face him here in court," said the woman, who did not give her name. "My brother made me feel like a dog coming down here like this." She said she is taking care of three of Dean's teenage children and does not understand why he would get involved in such a plot. She said Dean had been working for Dunbar for less than a year. Numerous calls to Dunbar's headquarters in Maryland were not returned yesterday. Siegel said the investigation is ongoing and authorities are looking for others who might be involved. He would not comment on whether the agency is still looking for a man with red hair -- a description that Dean provided to police for another suspect. Siegel would not say how the four men are connected, but three of them live in Orange. Tillman, who has been arrested 10 times since 1985 for thefts and burglaries, lives in Newark. Crooks also has been arrested eight times, with the most serious charges robbery and aggravated assault. The plot to steal the armored car, said Siegel, was crafted earlier this week. The vehicle was parked in front of the Bank of America on Livingston Avenue, where Dean and his partner were picking up cash. As they loaded $1,165,000 into the car, Dean, according to the criminal complaint, intentionally left the passenger door unlocked around 2:30 p.m. While they were in the bank, Crooks and Low slipped into the steel-sheathed truck and hid in the back. Dean hopped into the driver's seat and the other guard sat in the passenger seat. As they pulled onto South Livingston Avenue, Crooks and Low burst out from the back of the car and announced a robbery. Low placed a handgun in the side of the guard in the passenger seat and ordered Dean to keep driving. A fight broke out, said federal prosecutor R. Joseph Gribko, and then Low shot the guard, hitting his bulletproof vest. According to Gribko, the injured guard screamed at Dean, "I want to get out," then rolled out of the moving vehicle. The injured guard, whom authorities have refused to identify but have said was not part of the plot, ran to Nero's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge nearby and told general manager Todd Redmond: "I've been shot. Please call the police. The Dunbar armored truck has been hijacked." "He was pacing and he was upset," said Redmond. "He sat out on the front stoop, waiting there. He was showing a lot of pain." Erb said the man's life was saved by the bulletproof vest. He was treated at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and released. Meanwhile, Crooks and Low also jumped out of the truck and hopped into a waiting Jeep Cherokee, stolen in January in Morris Plains, that had been trailing them. At the same time, Dean fired a series of shots, said Erb. None of them hit the suspects. The Jeep took off and headed to Millburn, where police spotted it on Wyoming Avenue, said Erb. The suspects then sped down Ridgewood Road in South Orange, where they collided with an unmarked police car, said South Orange Police Chief Jim Chelel. Officers chased the Jeep onto Walton Road, where it dead-ended in the parking lot of the Department of Public Works. They drove off the road, said Chelel, then became trapped in the snow. Two of the suspects ran into the river, where they were arrested. A State Police helicopter was called in and children at South Orange Middle School were kept at the building until authorities tracked down the third suspect about 40 minutes later. South Orange police recovered plastic-wrapped bundles of cash from the Jeep. All the money in the armored car has been accounted for. The men are scheduled to appear in court again Tuesday for a detention hearing. Bill Kleinknecht contributed to this report. Katie Wang covers Livingston. She may be reached at kwang@starledger.com or (973) 392-1504.   Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 4023 Registered: 1-2004 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:42 am:        This should remove any doubt to what I said about the Bozo driving the SUV and the two police cars trailing it almost hitting me on Ridgewood Road. It's the first time any article mentioned what I posted Monday afternoon. >>>The Jeep took off and headed to Millburn, where police spotted it on Wyoming Avenue, said Erb. The suspects then sped down Ridgewood Road in South Orange, where they collided with an unmarked police car, said South Orange Police Chief Jim Chelel.<<<   Jersey Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 192 Registered: 1-2006 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 7:52 am:        JTA, You should change your name to "Scoop" or "Mygirlfriday." If you could stop calling it the "Snooze Wretched" there might even be a position for you there. Seriously though, I am often impressed with the detail, accuracy, and real time updates of Blog News. You always here Mainstream Large Scale cross referencing, (e.g. NYT runs story about fake reporter/male prostitute discovered by Daily Kos.) It seems local papers, with far fewer resources should be watching local blogs like MOL. At least to interview eye witnesses like JTA, if not to simply acknowledge that this robbery story had a parallel story here on MOL. God forbid use it to get the story right. J.B.   Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 10697 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 8:15 am:        Jersey Boy, more than once a discussion here on MOL has ended up as a story in the Star Ledger. I rather suspect that the reporter assigned to this beat reads the board regularly. I agree that JTA (aka Scoop) did a service by having Librarylady start a thread on the robbery. Overall the information posted was more accurate than you would usually find on radio or tv news.   Crazy_quilter Citizen Username: Crazy_quilter Post Number: 188 Registered: 2-2005 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 8:32 am:        Now "Scoop" needs to work on the mystery of the crashing vase in JB's house!   kmk Supporter Username: Kmk Post Number: 1008 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 9:17 am:        It all goes back to Nacy Drew doesn't it? If the books were written today and loosely based on life in Maplewood (like the originals) would they include bank robbers in black SUVs?   Jersey Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 195 Registered: 1-2006 Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 8:55 pm:        Scoop, I know you weren't pulled over talking on your cell phone in my powder room, but after Buzzsaw posted that picture of me holding a bat, I'm wondering about the flash that blinded me when I went looking in the basement. (Couldn't find the link. Too many threads!) Is Buzzsaw a Caucasian with red hair? I'm checking his profile. At large no more! J.B.