4-04-2022 1:35am

Carjacking, Bank Robbery, and Assault by Auto Charges in Morris County

Morris County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday, April 1, 2022, that Howard Parks, 54, of East Orange New Jersey was charged with Robbery, two counts of Carjacking, Receiving Stolen Property, and Assault by Auto, in connection with a series of crimes that occurred Morris County.

On April 1, 2022, officers from the Mount Olive Police Department responded to a Walmart parking lot in Flanders, NJ, to assist the South Orange Police Department in an active carjacking investigation.

During their investigation, at approximately 12:04 PM, a victim alerted the officers to a carjacking that had just taken place in the same Walmart parking lot. The victim provided a description of the suspect.

Twenty minutes later, the Mount Olive Police Department learned of an attempted bank robbery at the Wells Fargo Bank in Flanders, NJ, involving a suspect with the same description as the carjacker.

The suspect “pretended to possess a firearm and passed a note demanding money [to the teller]. However, the defendant fled the area prior to obtaining any money from the bank.”

Immediately after leaving the bank, at approximately 12:33 PM, the suspect was involved in a motor vehicle crash near the intersection of Eland Avenue and Route 10 in Randolph, NJ. The driver of the other vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Following the crash, the suspect attempted to steal another vehicle but was arrested before he could flee the scene.

The investigation and arrest were a collaboration between members of the Mount Olive Police Department, the Randolph Township Police Department, the Roxbury Township Police Department, the South Orange Police Department, the West Orange Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigations, and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and other MCPO detectives.

If anyone has any information related to this investigation, they are encouraged to call the Major Crimes Unit of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-285-6200.

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