A Virginia man arrested by Atlantic City police after robbing a city bank admitted this week to robbing four banks.
Bruce Wayne Higgins, 43, was already a convicted bank robber when police in Atlantic City received a flier with a surveillance photo from the Dec. 15, robbery of a TD Bank in Ocean City.
The suspect had handed the teller a note that read: “GUN IN pocket, MONEY NOW or –BANG-.”
Officers James Bower and Anthony Grajales recognized Higgins, and Ocean City police were given his name. The next day — with his picture distributed to all TD branches — Higgins came into the TD Bank on North Pennsylvania Avenue.
https://breakingac.com/atlantic-city-bank-robbed/
Employees hit the silent alarm, as they were told to do. But Higgins left without speaking to anyone.
Witnesses told police who responded to the call that Higgins left in a cab. He wound up at South Carolina and Atlantic avenues, where the Wells Fargo Bank was then robbed.
The robber’s note said: “Gun in Pocket. Money Now or Bang now.”
Higgins was found walking down the street after leaving the bank, and arrested.
The money was recovered, but there was no gun.
A coordinated investigation between the FBI in Baltimore and New Jersey found that a suspect matching his description had robbed two banks earlier that week in Baltimore.
On Wednesday, Higgins admitted to robbing the four banks.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 6.
Higgins served about 37 months in federal prison for two other bank robberies.
Both also included notes threatening a gun.
Problems with heroin and cocaine started Higgins' problems in 2009, according to a Washington Post story at the time.
When he robbed banks in Virginia and Washington, D.C., "Higgins had lost a job at an information technology firm paying more than $100,000 a year, had recently gotten divorced and was living in a crack house in Northeast Washington," the post wrote.
Lynda Cohen founded BreakingAC after working as a local newspaper reporter for more than two decades. She is an NJPA award-winner and was a Stories of Atlantic City fellow.
