'Nervous bowels' alleged bank robber in jail Police said family waited in car: New Milford man with nervous bowels seen in parking lot, robbed bank

Russell Mace, of New Milford, is charged with the Dec. 17th robbery of a New Milford bank. Russell Mace, of New Milford, is charged with the Dec. 17th robbery of a New Milford bank. Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close 'Nervous bowels' alleged bank robber in jail 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

NEW MILFORD -- A local man charged with robbing a New Milford bank Friday is depicted in court documents as a drug-addicted ex-convict with nervous bowels whose wife and two young children were in the car when police said he committed the robbery.

Russell D. Mace, 55, of Pumpkin Hill Road, has a criminal record in Connecticut dating to 1982. He served time in federal prison after being convicted of bank robbery in 1989, according to an arrest warrant made public after Mace appeared in court Monday morning.

Both Mace and his wife, Erin Mace, 35, were arraigned in state Superior Court in Bantam and remain jailed on bond. She has not been charged in the robbery but is accused, along with her husband, of a purse-snatching outside a New Milford supermarket in November.

Police said they quickly honed in on Mace after viewing surveillance film of the holdup at a Union Savings Bank branch because of previous dealings with him and because what police said is the getaway car, a white Toyota with a missing hubcap and broken side mirror, had been involved in a traffic accident they investigated a few days earlier.

At least one supervisor inside the East Street bank anticipated trouble because a teller and a customer said they had seen a man "pooping" in the parking lot "and not being discreet" minutes before the 3:35 p.m. robbery, according to police.

The supervisor warned tellers that the man who had been in the lot was coming into the bank and directed them to lock their cash drawers, bank employees told police.

Mace was "sweating and appeared nervous" as he told a male teller, "This is a robbery. Give me all your money," according to court documents.

The teller, who locked only one of his two cash drawers, gave the robber $3,050, which included a marked $20 bill police described as "bait money."

More Information Russell D. Mace Charges: first-degree robbery, third-degree larceny, risk of injury to a minor Russell D. and Erin Mace Charges: Conspiracy to commit larceny, fifth-degree larceny, breach of peace, risk of injury

Erin Mace told police she and the couple's two children, a boy, 4, and a girl, 1, waited in the car while her husband went into the bank.

"I didn't know what he was doing. I thought Russell might have had to cash a check. He didn't say and I didn't ask," she told police.

Erin Mace, who told police that both she and her husband are heroin addicts, said she was curious about what happened, but didn't say anything until Mace pulled "a big wad of money" out of his sweatshirt as they were driving away, according to the affidavit.

"Russell robbed the bank out of desperation. Russell was just doing it for the family," police quoted her as saying.

Investigators were able to quickly track Russell and his family to New Britain by "pinging" his cell phone. He was taken into custody later Friday. Investigators said they recovered $2,777, including the marked $20.

Police had obtained Mace's phone number when they questioned him and his wife about the supermarket purse-snatching several weeks earlier, according to arrest warrant affidavits.

Police said the children were in the car that Russell Mace was driving Nov. 23 when their mother grabbed a shopper's purse out of a cart in the Stop & Shop parking lot.

During an interview with the Maces at their apartment later that day, the 4-year-old blurted out, "Daddy didn't take the purse, my mommy did," police said.

Both parents were charged in that crime Friday and were held in custody while police obtained an arrest warrant in the bank robbery case.

Russell Mace is being held on bonds totalling $150,000 for the larceny and the bank robbery. Erin Mace's bond for the purse-snatching was set at $18,000.

Their cases were transferred to state Superior Court in Litchfield, where both are scheduled to appear Jan. 4.

Contact John Pirro at jpirro@newstimes.com or 203-731-3342.