Violent bank-robbing brothers from NJ spared from life in prison

🔸 NJ brothers robbed banks at gunpoint
🔸 Tried to steal an armored car
🔸 Prison terms reduced from life

Two brothers convicted of two violent armed bank robberies and an attempted armored carjacking have been given new and shorter prison terms.

Charles Rodriguez, 58, and Joseph Rodriguez, 57, were originally convicted in 1999 by a jury after a six-week trial for carrying out violent crimes in 1997 and 1998.

In 2000, they were both sentenced to life in prison.

Based on a challenge to the sentence due to intervening changes in the law, Judge Claire Cecchi dismissed a charge for using firearms during the attempted robbery of an armored car.

The Rodriguez brothers have now been re-sentenced to 30 years each, inclusive of time served.

Charles and Joseph Rodriguez were among four men wearing masks, body armor and heavily armed with rifles and a handgun, who robbed the Corestates Bank branch in Woodlynne of more than $64,000 on July 19, 1997.

The robbers hit multiple victims with the stock of their rifles, pointed firearms at victims’ faces, and threatened to kill them.

The group fled in a stolen vehicle, which they ditched, setting it on fire, and stole a second car.

Less than a year later, Charles and Joseph Rodriguez and a third man wore masks and tactical gear to rob a Commerce Bank in Moorestown of more than $15,000 on May 23, 1998.

The robbers shot out the plate glass entrance doors, fired shots into the ceiling and six shots at a plexiglass door in front of a vault. They pointed firearms at victims and threatened to shoot them.

When their stolen getaway car stalled, they demanded the car keys of a bank employee, stealing that as their new ride.

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Months later, on Sept. 1, 1998, Charles and Joseph Rodriguez, along with Jose Soto, turned up heavily armed as they tried to rob an armored car at the Walt Whitman rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cherry Hill.

The crew was dressed in tactical gear, including bulletproof vests, and carrying two machine guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as other firearms.

However, the armed car was part of an elaborate undercover operation set by law enforcement.

They had been working with a confidential informant — the brothers' cousin — who was also a former municipal police officer, according to trial coverage by Courier Post.

Charles Rodriguez was a known fugitive with the street nickname "Crazy Charlie," according to crime shows that covered past police encounters.

The crew was arrested at the rest stop and ultimately convicted.

On Nov. 18, 2022, Soto was sentenced to time served— about 24 years — for charges connected to the attempted robbery of an armored car.

Soto was acquitted of the two bank robberies.

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