Police Apprehend TD Bank Robbery Suspect, Alleged Accomplice

Police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for the armed robbery of the TD Bank on Floral Lane in Saddle Brook Friday morning, Police Chief Robert Kugler said.

The man, identified as Jorge Rodriguez, and an alleged accomplice were taken into custody around 4:30 p.m. Friday after being found in a Graham Terrace home just a couple blocks from the bank, Kugler said.

Rodriguez, of South River, was charged with robbery, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful use.

Another man, whom police found in the home and believe to be an associate of Rodriguez, was also taken into custody, but is only considered a person of interest at this point, Kugler said.

He said authorities had been surveilling the home based on a number of leads and made the arrest when the suspect attempted to leave it around 4:30 p.m. The suspect was found carrying a bag with the stolen money, a handgun and other evidence linking him to the crime, Kugler said. 

"We had specific leads from witnesses and from video — not only from the bank but some other video images  — and we had a vehicle of interest," explained Kugler, whose department performed its investigation in conjunction with the FBI.

Rodriguez, 45, was remanded to Bergen County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

He allegedly entered the bank around 11:15 a.m., brandished a black handgun and demanded that the bank teller place money in a bag for him, police said. After taking an undetermined amount of money, he fled west on foot in the direction of Long Memorial Elementary School, according to witness reports.

Kugler said that a resident who witnessed the robbery tried following the suspect for a short distance, but lost him about a block away.

Long Memorial and Helen I. Smith Elementary schools were both placed on a perimeter lockdown for about 1.5 hours as a precaution due to their proximity to the bank. Police instructed district parents to avoid reporting to the schools until about 12:30 p.m. when the lockdown was lifted following a police search of the area, Kugler said.

Officers from Fair Lawn and Elmwood Park, as well as the Bergen County Police and K-9 Units and Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification Crime Scene Unit assisted Saddle Brook Police and the FBI in the investigation.

"The real heroes are the individual citizens who provided the critical clues and especially the person who followed the suspect from the crime scene to where we eventually hunted him down," Kugler said in a statement.

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