The Lakewood Police Department announced the arrest of 67 year old Ivan Sevastianow in connection with the June 30th robbery of a local TD Bank and the unsuccessful attempted robbery of a local Wells Fargo.

On the afternoon of June 30th, Sevastianow of Howell, walked into the Wells Fargo located at 425 W Kennedy Blvd and handed a bank teller a note demanding money. The teller denied his request, so he left the bank and proceeded to walk across the intersection, to the TD Bank located at 1601 Madison Avenue. Upon reaching the teller, he repeated the process and handed the teller a note demanding money. After receiving approximately $1,500 in cash he exited the bank. His last known direction of travel was westbound on W Kennedy Blvd.

During the subsequent investigation conducted by Officer Alex Guzman Jr., it was learned that the Old Bridge Township Police Department had arrested a man on July 7th in connection to a bank robbery that had just occurred in their jurisdiction.

Further investigation confirmed that the man identified as Ivan Sevastianow was also responsible for the crimes in Lakewood.

As a result he was charged with two counts of robbery. He is currently lodged in the Middlesex County Jail.

Sevastianow was previously arrested in 2018 for hoarding dozens of animals in his house and was charged with numerous animal cruelty charges.