CAMDEN, N.J. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - New Jersey), published as received.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Pennsylvania man today admitted robbing two banks in Camden County, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Leon I. Stanford, 54, of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to an information charging him with two counts of bank robbery.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Feb. 22, 2020, Stanford entered the TD Bank in Oaklyn, New Jersey and handed the bank teller a note which announced a robbery and demanded cash. The bank teller complied, and witnesses saw him depart in a white SUV. On Feb. 24, 2020, Stanford entered the Republic Bank in Cherry Hill, and handed the bank teller a note which announced a robbery and demanded cash. The bank teller complied, and witnesses saw Stanford depart in a white SUV.

Law enforcement officers were able to obtain a partial license plate number for the white SUV from surveillance videos in the area of both bank robberies, which generated a lead to a vehicle driven by Stanford, who was subsequently identified as the person in the bank surveillance videos. 

At the time of these bank robberies, Stanford was on federal supervised release as a result of prior bank robbery convictions, for which he served a 10-year term of imprisonment.  Sentencing is scheduled for July 18, 2023. 

Each bank robbery charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. 

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire in Philadelphia; the New York/New Jersey U.S. Marshals Regional Task Force Camden Division, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos Jr.; the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay; the Oaklyn Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jayne Jones; and the Cherry Hill Police Department, under the direction of Chief Robert Kempf, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen M. Harberg in Camden.