Man Gets Nearly 10 Years for Bank Robbery

A 36-year-old city man was sentenced to 110 months in jail for armed bank robbery, the US Attorney’s Office announced today.

Lynnell Brown pleaded guilty in August 2009 to  armed robbery of a J.P. Morgan Chase Bank branch in Lake Hopatcong  on Jan. 16, 2009.  U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh imposed sentence today in Newark federal court.

Brown entered the bank wearing a ski mask and approached a bank teller, then aimed a loaded, semi-automatic handgun at her and threatened to kill her unless she gave him the money in each of the teller drawers. Brown fled in a vehicle and was pursued by law enforcement. During the subsequent extended chase, Brown drove at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour into oncoming traffic lanes on I-280 before wrecking his vehicle near a residential neighborhood in West Orange.

In addition to the prison sentence, Brown was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Garrett Mountain Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark; officers and investigators with the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Rick Fuentes; investigators with the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi; investigators with the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Eric V. Rockford; and police officers with the Lake Hopatcong, Jefferson Township, and East Hanover Police Departments, for the investigation leading to today’s sentence.