PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - A suspected bank robber was caught after, authorities said, he stole thousands of dollars from two South Florida banks, all while disguised as an elderly man.
Twenty-four-year-old Abraham Maghen was arrested Thursday at his home in Hollywood and taken to the Broward County Jail.
Maghen is accused of stealing $10,000 in cash from the Chase bank located along North University Drive and Johnson Street, in Pembroke Pines, May 2.
The FBI said he was wearing an old man disguise when he pulled out a gun and demanded money from a bank employee. Surveillance stills captured the armed suspect wearing an old man mask.
Agents believe Maghen blew most of that cash the next day at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.
Officials said Maghen struck again on Tuesday, at a TD Bank in Boca Raton, where he told a teller, “My grandson is sick. I need $40,000 now. Hurry up, he’s going to die.”
However, a tracking device that was placed with the cash he took led authorities to the house in Hollywood where he was renting a room.
Andrea Itzkowitz, the homeowner from whom Maghen was renting a room said he had just moved to South Florida from New York and had recently been fired from his job as a loan adviser. “Yes, he was fired because he was late to work constantly,” she said.
When asked whether she knew Maghen had been robbing banks, Itzkowitz replied, “No idea whatsoever. You never know who you have living in your home.”
Maghen’s white Dodge Challenger remained parked outside of the home on Thursday.
His landlord said Maghen mumbled an apology as police led him out of the residence. “When they brought him in the shackles, he was just, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ and that was it,” said Itzkowitz.
Maghen is expected to appear in federal court next week for a detention hearing.
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