Former Essex sheriff’s officer admits Boonton bank heist

A retired Essex County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant with a prior history of robberies faces between five and 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing a Boonton bank in April.

Harry E. Schnitzer, 71, pleaded guilty Tuesday before state Superior Court Judge Stuart Minkowitz in Morristown to a second-degree robbery of the Santander Bank on Main Street in Boonton on April 30. In exchange for his plea, Schnitzer faces between five and 10 years behind bars when sentenced in February.

Schnitzer has been held at the Morris County Jail in Morris Township since his arrest and had told a judge during a bail review in May that he has psychological problems.

Schnitzer took a disability retirement in 2002 as a lieutenant with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, where he had worked for 17 years. Living in Nutley at the time, he was charged in 2001 in Passaic County with robbery and was accepted into the county’s pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders.

He then was convicted in 2006 of bank robbery in Livingston in 2005 and was sentenced to five years in federal prison but was released after serving a shorter period of time.

Schnitzer told authorities he was homeless but temporarily was living at the Red Roof Inn on Route 46 in Parsippany. On April 30, he walked into Santander Bank on Main Street in Boonton just after 10 a.m., demanded money and threatened a teller that he would get his gun.

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office in April released surveillance images from Santander Bank that clearly showed an older, bespectacled man wearing a dark baseball cap and green zipper jacket. Shortly after the images were published, an employee of National Bank in Landing called police to report that a man who resembled the suspect entered that branch on April 29 and behaved in a suspicious manner.

National Bank employees recorded the man’s license plate number and turned it over to police after the Santander Bank images were circulated. Police discovered that the car was registered to Schnitzer.

Late April 30, police talked to a witness who told them that Schnitzer was staying at the Red Roof Inn. Police spotted his car in the motel lot and made contact with Schnitzer in Room 133.

Officers checked the room and found clothing that was consistent with the garments worn by the Santander Bank robber. They also found an undisclosed amount of money. Authorities said that nearly all the money taken from the bank was recovered except for $200 that Schnitzer reportedly used on items such as food and gasoline.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com