Jury Convicts Man of Robbing Pemberton Boro. Bank Back in 2019

PEMBERTON BOROUGH—A 38-yearold man from the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township has been found guilty of first-degree robbery for walking into a Pemberton Borough bank in the summer of 2019, announcing he had a gun, and demanding money from the tellers, according to a press release from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s office.

After reportedly deliberating for approximately two and a half hours, a Superior Court jury returned the verdict against Cortney Bell on Jan. 31 in a Mount Holly courtroom, the press release noted.

An investigation began the morning of July 23, 2019, after officers from the Pemberton Borough Police Department and troopers from the New Jersey State Police were called to the TD Bank on Elizabeth Street for a report of a robbery.

Upon law enforcement’s arrival, according to the press release, employees and customers indicated a man had come into the bank wearing a hooded sweatshirt, bandana, sunglasses and dirty sweat socks on his hands, and then approached a teller with his hand in his pocket pointing toward her, saying he had a gun.

He then purportedly threatened to start shooting the tellers unless they provided him with money, the prosecutor’s office said.

The investigation revealed that the bandit was given a few bundles of cash, which he dropped on the floor while attempting to exit the bank. As he was picking up the fallen currency, a Corona Light beer bottle fell out of his pocket, authorities noted.

Bell fled the bank with $600.

Investigators took the bottle to the New Jersey State Police Central Regional Laboratory, where forensic scientists were able to obtain a DNA sample that was ultimately matched to Bell.

He was subsequently charged with the bank robbery in December 2020. The warrant was served to him in Burlington County Jail, where he was awaiting trial for a separate offense.

Judge Christopher J. Garrenger scheduled Bell’s sentencing for April 21.

Man Pleads Guilty to Setting Fatal 2022 Pemberton Borough Fire That Tore Through Apartment Complex, Displacing Many People

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON BOROUGH—A 23-yearold Burlington Township man pled guilty Feb. 1 in Superior Court to starting a fire at a Pemberton Borough apartment in the spring of 2022 that killed a 22-year-old resident of the complex, after reportedly reaching a plea agreement with the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. The inferno, as previously reported by this newspaper, that swept through Tara Hall at 53 Egbert Street also injured two others, as well as reportedly displaced as many as 19 people.

Windows for the apartment complex, across the street from the Pemberton Borough Municipal Building and Police Department, remained boarded up as of last month.

According to a Feb. 2 press release from the county prosecutor’s office, Newlin Evans IV pled guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in exchange for a 22-year sentence in state prison, of which 85 percent must be served before he becomes eligible for parole.

The plea was entered in Superior Court in Mount Holly.

Formal sentencing has been scheduled in the matter for March 24 before Judge Terrence R. Cook.

As previously reported by this newspaper, emergency officials were dispatched to the fire during the early morning hours of April 20, 2022.

The inferno killed Camryn Powell, 22, of Pemberton Borough, and injured two other victims, according to state police. Powell was inside the apartment at the time of the fire, state police noted.

A criminal complaint filed against Evans, later obtained by the Pine Barrens Tribune, revealed that authorities learned that Evans was “upset” after learning just a few days before the blaze that his ex-girlfriend rekindled a relationship with Powell.

“Through various investigative means, detectives determined that Evans initially used an accelerant inside the apartment and started the fire,” state police revealed in a press release issued shortly after the blaze. Powell was found dead by authorities near two mattresses adjacent to his bedroom window, according to the complaint, with the broken glass “consistent with a window being broken from the outside.” The victim’s identity was determined through use of dental records.

Evans, who suffered burns, fled the scene and ultimately was transported to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia for treatment. The investigation resulted in charges being filed against Evans, and he was arrested upon being discharged from Jefferson in May of last year.

He has been lodged in the Burlington County Jail since being apprehended, according to the county prosecutor’s office.