WEST LONG BRANCH – A Jackson Township man was arrested and charged after robbing $700,000 from a check-cashing business, officials said.
Travis A. Bryant, 41, is charged with first-degree Robbery, second-degree Burglary, and fourth-degree Possession of an Imitation Handgun.
On November 2, 2017, at around 9 a.m., West Long Branch Police Department responded to the check-cashing business on Route 36 after receiving a report of a silent alarm activation. An employee told police that a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face and sunglasses had just robbed the store of a large amount of cash.
According to police, the suspect had entered the store when no customers were present and used a ladder to access and climb through ceiling ducts in order to get to a secure area where cash was stored.
The man then fell through ceiling, approached the store employee stating that he has a weapon and ordered her into the store bathroom. He took the employee’s purse, cell phone, and about $700,000 in cash, driving away in a van, police said.
Authorities later identified the man as Bryant and he was arrested without incident on October 27, 2022, and lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) pending a first appearance and detention hearing to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court.
Bryant faces 10 to 20 years in state prison for convictions on first-degree crimes.
Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.
