Man arrested in A.C. bank robbery suspect in Ocean City robbery

A convicted bank robber from Virginia has been charged with the Friday robbery of an Atlantic City bank and is the suspect in Thursday’s Oc ean City TD Bank robbery. Bruce Higgins, 42, of Herndon, Virginia, was arrested Friday afternoon, after he allegedly robbed the Wells Fargo Bank in Atlantic City. Higgins’ image had been caught on surveillance at the Ocean City bank when he allegedly handed a clerk a note and robbed the TD Bank on Thursday. Atlantic City Police Officers James Bower and Anthony Grajales saw the photos and recognized Higgins from a previous encounter, Sgt. Kevin Fair said. Ocean City police were then given his name, and the picture was distributed to TD branches with personnel told to hit their alarm if they saw him walk in. On Friday, employees at the TD Bank on North Pennsylvania Avenue did just that when they saw Higgins come inside. He left the bank without speaking to anyone, according to the report. FBI agents and Atlantic City police had already been looking for him in the city. When Officer Brian Fleming responded to the TD’s alarm, a witness said Higgins left in a cab. The witness was able to give the cab number and the direction it went in. The cab was found at South Carolina and Atlantic avenues, but Higgins had already left. It appears, he also had hit another bank. Officers started looking for him in the area when they saw him walking down South Carolina Avenue after exiting the Wells Fargo. He had allegedly given the teller a note indicating he had a gun. The teller then turned over more than $1,000 in cash. Officers Brent Dooley, Jeffrey Hannon, Valmir Loga, Bryan O’Neill and John Sharkey approached, and ordered him to the ground, Fair said. He at first refused, but after several minutes was arrested. The money was recovered, but no gun was found. He is currently charged with robbery of the Wells Fargo. Higgins also is wanted for questioning in the Ocean City bank robbery along with two banks and a grocery store robbed in Maryland. His bail was not immediately available.

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.

Higgins was freed from federal prison Nov. 15, 2012, after serving about 37 months of a 51-month sentence after pleading guilty in two other bank robberies. On Feb. 24, 2009, he allegedly walked into the SunTrust Bank in Washington, D.C., got a pen from a bank employee and wrote a note he gave to the teller, according to a release at that time from the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney’s Office. “HAND ME $ NOW 20 $ QUICK GUN IN SUIT POCKET KEEP QUIET OR YOUR DEAD,” it read, according to the charges. He then put his right hand in his jacket in a way that made the teller believe he was reaching for a weapon. He fled with about $1,065. Four days later, he entered a SunTrust Bank in Arlington, Virginia, and handed the teller a note that said “GUN IN COAT HAND ME 20$ NOW OR YOU HURT,” the charges claimed. “Give me the money. I have a gun. I’ll shoot you,” he then said, again placing his right hand in his jacket to look like he was reaching for the gun. Higgins got $2,099 at that time. In addition to the 51-month sentence, he was ordered to pay restitution. He was released from federal prison Nov. 15, 2012, records show. Photo provided by Angel Torres Bank robbery suspect is taken into custody in Atlantic City