Crime & Safety

Police: PNC Bank Robbers Foiled by License-Plate Reader

The technology helped police spot the suspect vehicle the day after the PNC Bank robbery. Adam P. Cybulski III and Michele L. Fidanza are charged in the robbery.

Gloucester Township Police Department is crediting technology it began using last year with helping officers on Tuesday apprehend a Berlin man and Pine Hill woman now accused of robbing the Blackwood Clementon Road PNC Bank branch Monday morning.

The arrests came about 24 hours after the bank robbery, which did not result in any injuries, according to Gloucester Township Police Capt. Anthony Minosse, who noted in a press release the suspect approached a teller while "threatening to have a weapon."

At approximately 11:20 a.m. Monday, personnel from Gloucester Township Police Department and Camden County Prosecutor's Office were dispatched to the PNC Bank branch on Blackwood Clementon Road, at Little Gloucester Road, on a report of a robbery there. 

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Police were informed a male suspect had entered the bank, threatened he had a weapon and demanded money from a teller. The suspect was handed an undisclosed amount of currency and fled.

The male suspect reportedly entered what police identified as a black 1998 Mercedes Benz, reportedly driven by a female, and the two traveled onto Little Gloucester Road toward Erial Road.

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Witnesses were able to provide investigators with a license-plate number for the black Mercedes, according to police.

This information was relayed across law-enforcement communications channels and entered into the Gloucester Township Police Department's Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) database. It was discovered the black Mercedes had been photographed by a police car-mounted ALPR in June while traveling on Gloucester Township roadways, Minosse said.

This information, including a photo of the suspect vehicle and potential suspect information, was distributed to law-enforcement officers throughout the state. Local police patrols focused on the areas where the vehicle was observed in the past.

Those efforts resulted in Gloucester Township Police officers spotting the black Mercedes Tuesday at 11:16 a.m. on Williamstown Erial Road, Minosse said. The vehicle was occupied by a male and a female.

Police conducted a high-risk motor-vehicle stop, and the suspects were taken into custody without incident.

Gloucester Township Police detectives, assisted by Camden County investigators, interviewed and were able to connect the two suspects to the PNC robbery, according to Minosse.

Adam P. Cybulski III, 55, formerly of Berlin, was charged with first-degree armed robbery. Michele L. Fidanza, 31, of Country Club Road, Pine Hill, was charged with second-degree armed robbery.

Cybulski was lodged in Camden County Jail on $250,000 bail, Fidanza on $100,000 bail.

The proceeds of the robbery were found to have been deposited into another bank. These funds were recovered and were being returned to PNC Bank, Minosse said.

Township Council in May approved the purchase of two new license-plate readers.


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