A man alleged to have robbed a string of local banks while wearing a hoodie in recent weeks escaped from police custody yesterday, the Asbury Park Press reports.
Twenty-five-year old Long Branch resident Cristiano DeSouza-Pessoa slipped out of Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch at about noon and was recaptured about five hours later in Kearney, the Press reports.
Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Warshaw tells the newspaper that DeSouza-Pessoa had been taken for to the hospital for and unexplained “evaluation” following his arrest last Friday. He was charged in connection with bank robberies in Red Bank, Eatontown, Middletown and Keyport.
From the Press:
Police were told by the hospital staff Saturday that officers would not be permitted to guard DeSouza-Pessoa while he was admitted, but were assured he would be treated in a secure unit, Warshaw said.
Long Branch police received a 911 call from the hospital about 12:17 p.m. advising that DeSouza-Pessoa had absconded. A subsequent search, involving police from each of the towns where the robberies took place, as well as the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s and Sheriff’s offices, led authorities to Kearny, where DeSouza-Pessoa was known to have acquaintances, Warshaw said.
He was arrested there without incident after extensive effort from Kearny police, Warshaw said.
