Crime & Safety
Belmar Man Arrested on Bank Robbery Charges
In South Carolina incident, man fled bank to his Holiday Inn hotel room, police say.
Police have arrested a Belmar man in South Carolina on armed robbery charges after he allegedly held up a SunTrust bank.
It happened around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday when Craig S. Ozarowski allegedly entered the bank, brandished what looked like a firearm and demanded money, according to Mount Pleasant Police Maj. Stan Gragg.
The suspect fled the scene and sought cover in his room at the nearby Holiday Inn Express, according to Gragg. Officers located Ozarowski inside the hotel and placed him under arrest.
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Officers in South Carolina recovered the undisclosed amount of cash and an air-soft pistol, Gragg said. Ozarowski has been charged with armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, according to the police department.
The bank sits in a busy intersection plagued by congestion and road construction crews, that is located just a few hundred yards from the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
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Ozarowski is known to New Jersey authorities, having been arrested in 1984 after boasting to police, challenging them to catch him, for as many as 30 robberies shortly after his release from prison, according to an Associated Press report at the time.
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