Authorities Friday arrested a Delaware woman who they say stole $103,000 in cash after brandishing two handguns and forcing three tellers to the floor of the TD Bank branch here earlier this week.
The suspect, Lashawnda Jones, 30, of Wilmington, Del., has admitted to the heist here and her role in three other robberies at banks this fall in Delaware and Pennsylvania, said Pennsville Police Lt. Allen Cummings.
Pennsville Police and officers from the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office and Delaware State Police executed a search warrant at Jones’ row home on North Pine Street in Wilmington at 6 a.m. Friday.
There they recovered about $75,000 in cash believed to have come from the robberies along with clothing she allegedly used as a disguise when hitting the banks, including the robbery in Pennsville.
In connection with the theft here, Jones has been charged with one count of robbery, one count of theft, three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of making terroristic threats, three counts of criminal restraint, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon, one count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, according to Cummings.
Besides the robbery of the TD Bank at 180 South Broadway here late Sunday afternoon, Jones admitted to committing robberies at TD Bank offices in Wilmington and Bear, Del., and in West Goshen, Pa.
Authorities outlined Jones’ alleged string of robberies:
• On Oct. 15 she robbed a TD Bank in Bear, Del., but while exiting the bank, a dye pack placed with the money she took exploded and she dropped the cash.
• Later that same day she drove to West Goshen, Pa., where she held up the TD Bank branch there and got away with $3,000.
• On Oct. 22 Jones robbed a TD Bank branch in Wilmington where she fled with $30,000.
• On Dec. 5 she entered the TD Bank branch at 180 South Broadway in Pennsville about 4:10 p.m. She lured the three female tellers at the bank to the front of the vault, at which time she displayed two black handguns and demanded two tellers to lie on the floor.
Police said Jones held the tellers on the floor at gunpoint and held a gun to the head of the third teller who she ordered to open the vault.
Jones then removed $103,000 in cash and fled.
Following the Pennsville robbery, authorities from Salem County worked with law enforcement from Delaware and Pennsylvania after similarities between the robbery here and in the other two states became known.
Tellers who were robbed by Jones also positively identified her from a photo lineup, police said.
While authorities found about $75,000 in cash in the house where Jones lived, an investigation is continuing into the whereabouts of the rest of the money taken from he banks, Cummings said.
And although Jones used two handguns to threaten the three tellers at the Pennsville bank, no weapons were recovered from Jones’ home.
Police did seize a vehicle that was used in some of the robberies — but not the one in Pennsville — that had been white but had allegedly been repainted in an attempt to hide it from authorities.
Jones is facing numerous charges similar to those lodged in connection with the Pennsville robbery for the bank jobs in Delaware and Pennsylvania, police said.
“The Pennsville Police Department’s Unit and the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office should be commended for their phenomenal police work in this case,” Cummings said. “Their efforts, along with the outstanding cooperation of authorities in Delaware and Pennsylvania resulted in getting a dangerous individual off the streets.”
Jones had been convicted in 2008 on bank robbery charges in Delaware.
Jones is being held in Gander Hill Prison in Wilmington on $250,000 full cash bail.
She faces extradition to New Jersey to face charges from the Pennsville robbery and also extradition to Pennsylvania to face court for her alleged crimes there.