Family accused of robbing bank to pay mortgage
Family accused of stickup; Police: Girls, 14, robbed bank
Published in the Asbury Park Press 11/05/02
By GREGORY J. VOLPE
and BILL MC LAUGHLIN
MANAHAWKIN BUREAU
BARNEGAT -- A local family, broke and faced with losing their house and car to foreclosure, robbed a bank at gunpoint to steal money for a mortgage payment, Police Chief Edward Smith said last night.
A husband, wife, two 14-year-old daughters and a 16-year-old stepdaughter were
arrested Friday after police say the 14-year-olds used a fake handgun to steal $3,050 from a local bank. Their mother drove them to the bank and waited on a dirt road behind it to drive them away, police said.
Police would not say what led them to raid the family's home at 21 Midship Drive at 5:15 p.m. Friday, when the arrests were made.
The 14-year-olds and their mother, Kathleen Wortman Jones, 34, were charged with armed robbery of a bank and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes. The 16-year-old stepdaughter was charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery. And the father, Kevin Jones (also known as Kelvin Jones), 37, was charged with receiving stolen property and hindering apprehension, police said. Police did not name the juveniles because of their age but said all five suspects lived together.
Jones' role in the crime was "minimal," Smith said. He did not know his wife and daughters committed the crime until they came home with the money, the chief added. He was charged for not telling police after he learned of it.
The chief said the suspects told police they were having financial troubles and were on the verge of losing their car and home.
Both adults have declared bankruptcy within the past six years, according to public records. Kevin Jones filed Chapter 7 in 1997 and his wife filed for Chapter 13 protection on July 29.
The split-level dwelling, surrounded by neatly kept, modest homes, had a run-down look.
Neighbors not happy
One neighbor said the residence was occupied by perhaps 10 to 12 people at a time. It was a "wild house," with people coming and going at all hours, the neighbor said.
"This is a very good neighborhood, but we've been living in fear," the neighbor said. "Look around at the houses, then look at that one. They destroyed it."
No one answered the door at the Jones home yesterday afternoon. Kevin Jones' brother, Keith, answered the phone there last night, saying he had been told not to comment on the arrest of his brother's family.
When asked whether his sister-in-law may have resorted to robbing the bank in an effort to save the home, he said "Me and my mother stay here, but we don't get into their business. We're just here as a support thing."
One resident who attended last night's Township Committee meeting said she worked with Kathleen Wortman Jones at a local nursing home before Jones had to leave on a disability because of a bad back.
"I couldn't believe it when I heard it," the former co-worker said. "She was my backbone when I was going through my divorce. She kept saying, 'Everything's going to be all right. You'll get through this.' "
According to records, Kevin Jones spent six months in jail for drug distribution in 1990.
The couple, she in a green jumpsuit, he wearing orange togs, appeared yesterday before Judge James N. Citta in state Superior Court, Toms River.
Each nodded and said "yes" when Citta asked if they were aware of their charges and if they had applied for a public defender. They remained in the Ocean County Jail with bail set at $75,000 each with no 10 percent option. Their bails will be reviewed at information hearings today.
The 14-year-olds remained at the Ocean County Juvenile Shelter in Toms River. The 16-year-old was released to her grandmother, whose identity police did not know.
$2,700 recovered
During Friday's raid -- conducted by Barnegat's SWAT team and an FBI agent -- police recovered $2,700 but didn't know what happened to the rest. "They must have spent it somewhere," police Capt. Joseph Manger said. "We did recover a majority of it."
Police also recovered the "replica handgun" in a dumpster in Manahawkin. Police also found a magazine clip from the fake weapon at the crime scene last week.
The case was broken by "crucial information obtained by Detective Joseph Bogdany," Manger said. Detectives working the case brought bits of information in and pieced them together, he said.
"This was real, true police work -- digging up every scrap of evi-dence," Manger said. "We didn't have a lot to go on initially, but there was a concentrated effort by the entire force to find out who did this."
Manger, Bogdany, lead Detective Michael Duffy, and Detectives Edward Smith, Gary LaRussa and Ryan Duggan were commended last night by the Township Com-mittee.
Also assisting with investigation was FBI agent Bruce Kamerman. FBI spokeswoman Sandra Carroll referred all inquiries to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
The bank was robbed shortly be-fore noon last Tuesday by two young females, one brandishing what appeared to be a silver auto-matic handgun. They fled on foot northbound toward Memorial Drive, police said. Search dogs lost the robbers' scent in wood-lands behind the bank.
Staff writers Paul D'Ambrosio, Kristen Ostendorf, Karen Sudol and Tom Troncone contributed to this story.
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Gregory J. Volpe: (609) 978-4584 or gvolpe@app.com |
