15-Year Prison Term For Colts Neck Man Who Robbed 3 Banks

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Colts Neck man who committed three bank robberies and a burglary over the course of a month in 2021 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Thursday.

Conor Kavanagh, 31, Colts Neck, will have 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, the office said.

Kavanaugh was sentenced Friday, July 7, before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley.

Kavanagh also can't have any contact with the victims, and must make restitution. He is also not allowed to return to the financial institutions where the crimes were committed, the prosecutor's office said.

He pleaded guilty on Jan. 20 of this year, the prosecutor's office said.

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

• Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021: At about 1:15 p.m. a person later identified as Kavanagh approached a teller window at the PNC Bank inside the Stop and 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, authorities said.
• Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021: A bank robbery occurred at about 4 p.m. 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, authorities said.
• Friday, Dec. 17, the Wells Fargo branch on Route 36 in Eatontown was robbed. Again, a suspect passed a note demanding money, indicating that he was in possession of a weapon, according to the prosecutor.

Following the bank robbery in Middletown, detectives from the Middletown Police Department developed information that led to Kavanagh's being identified as a potential suspect, the prosecutor's office said.

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, the prosecutor's office said.

Detectives searched the pickup truck and located proceeds from the Eatontown bank robbery and the clothing the suspect was seen wearing on surveillance footage, authorities said.

They also located information about a storage unit in Shrewsbury. A search of that location revealed proceeds from the Keyport and Middletown bank robberies, authorities said.

Additionally, a search of the cell phone Kavanagh was using contained evidence of online searches for local bank branches, according to the prosecutor's office.

Santiago thanked the Eatontown, Keyport and Middletown police departments, as well as members of the FBI’s Newark office, for their assistance in the investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Dugan. Kavanagh is being represented by Edwin Wu, Freehold.