7.13.24 – Baltimore Sun
Maryland is seeing an increase in armed robberies targeting customers of banks and ATMs, according to the FBI’s Baltimore field office.
In a practice the FBI refers to as “jugging,” a person approaches someone they believe is carrying large amounts of cash and robs them in the parking lot of a bank or ATM or follows them to their next location.
So far this year, there have been about 84 of these incidents reported in Maryland, according to the FBI, which is working with local law enforcement agencies to investigate the robberies.
“We are well on pace to double last year’s numbers,” Special Agent Kevin Crout said in an interview Friday.
Almost half of this year’s incidents have happened in the last 45 days, Crout said. During the first week of July alone, 21 bank and ATM customers in Maryland were robbed this way, the FBI said in a news release Thursday.
The majority of these armed robberies were reported in Anne Arundel County and Prince George’s County, the FBI said.
A spokesperson for the Anne Arundel Police Department said there have been 15 cases of so-called “juggings” this year, with three cases closed.
“The perpetrators of these violent robberies, known as ‘juggings,’ prey on people who are trying to live out their daily lives peacefully,” said Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad in the news release. “We will continue to dedicate the necessary resources to prevent these criminals from attacking innocent people and when they do, diligently and relentlessly use our investigative techniques to identify, arrest and bring them to justice.”
Deputy Chief Zachary O’Lare of the Prince George’s County Police Department called investigating these robberies “a top priority,” in the news release. The department did not provide data Friday on how many occurred there.
Crout said the pattern came to the FBI’s attention sometime in June, when agents began noticing more consistent overlap between incidents in Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties through their work with local task forces. Law enforcement has linked some of the same vehicles to robberies carried out along the Route 50 corridor, Crout said.
Crout said the recent robberies fitting this pattern usually have involved groups of three or four people using stolen cars and robbing bank or ATM customers in broad daylight during business hours, often around lunchtime.
When a person is walking to or from a bank or ATM, a group of two or three people approach the customer in a car or on foot. At least one person will pull a gun, demand the customer’s money and then hop into a getaway car, Crout said.
“From start the finish from where the suspect approaches the person, robs them and then leaves, that’s roughly 15 to 30 seconds,” Crout said.
The same crew will go on to try to rob multiple people over the course of a few hours, Crout said.
Crout warned that these are violent crimes that could escalate quickly. He urged people to stay aware of their surroundings, report any suspicious activity, conceal cash and avoid distractions like using a phone when visiting a bank or ATM. The FBI also said in its release that customers should vary when and where they go to the bank.
Crout said the FBI is partnering with local agencies with the hope of building a case with a “federal nexus,” but the agency will continue to aid the local departments in their investigations regardless.
Originally Published: July 12, 2024 at 5:15 p.m.