Career Bank Robber Held In Oakland Heist

Prolific bank robber John Edward Stevens made a first appearance in a Newark Federal Court Wednesday afternoon following an arrest for the alleged robbery of an Oakland bank last month.

A federal judge ordered Stevens remanded to custody and appointed him a public defender after a two-minute hearing, northjersey.com reported. Stevens was released from a Bronx halfway house two weeks ago, where he had been living since his Feb. parole from a federal prison sentence for bank robbery.

Stevens, 59, of Brooklyn, has been charged with the April 15 robbery of the TD Bank on Ramapo Valley Road. Authorities say he entered the bank with a handgun in a zippered pouch, and fled the building with over $4,000 after showing the gun to a teller.

About 20 minutes after the robbery, authorities say, Waldwick Police Sgt. Robert Woessner found Stevens traveling southbound on Route 17 when a license plate check revealed the Toyota Camry he was driving had been reported stolen the day before.

Stevens was arrested on the Paramus Road off-ramp in Ridgewood, where police say they discovered a handgun and a TD Bank bag filled with $4,658 in cash.

In a release, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman credited the Oakland and Waldwick police departments for their contributions to the case.

Stevens has previously served two prison sentences for a string of bank robberies in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1987 to 1988, he made an appearance on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List and even America's Most Wanted.

A gambler with a talent for identity theft, Stevens bragged to federal agents that he wouldn't be caught. He was apprehended by FBI agents at a Cincinnati hotel room in Dec. 1988.

If convicted for the TD Bank robbery in Oakland, Stevens could spend the rest of his days in prison.