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BLOGS

The Crime Scene

Taxi, wait for me. I gotta rob a bank.

Today's blotter:

From the Associated Press:

ROSELLE, N.J. (AP) — Police say a New Jersey man who told a cab driver to stop at a bank so he could take out some money failed to mention that he was going to rob it.

Michael Restaino Jr. of Linden was arrested shortly afterward Monday when a Roselle police officer stopped the cab he was riding in several blocks from the Roselle Savings Bank.

Police say the taxi driver was apparently unaware of what his passenger had done.

Police say they found more than $2,400 in cash and a holdup note in Restaino's pockets. They say he was not armed.

He has been charged with second-degree robbery and is being held in the Union County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Police did not know whether he had retained a lawyer.

Also from the Garden State:

A man was sentenced for robbing banks on Thursdays.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man who robbed banks every Thursday has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison.

Peter Bielecke pleaded guilty in June to one count of bank robbery but admitted five other holdups on consecutive Thursdays in January, February and March. He robbed banks in several cities including Brick, his hometown.

He didn't give a reason for choosing Thursdays. But authorities say the pattern made it easier to track him.

The 40-year-old was arrested after a March 5 robbery in Old Bridge.

He'll serve five years and 10 months in prison. He'll also have to pay nearly $12,000 in restitution under the sentence handed down Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Trenton.