Cops: Ex-con hit the same bank that landed him in prison before

A Phillies World Series title was still a dream in August 2003, but John J. Millison was swinging for the fences when he robbed a PNC Bank in Cape May County that year.

The Drexel Hill man was sent to federal prison in the case but was released about a month after the team won the Series last year.

But on July 27, Millison, sporting a panty-hose mask and a red Phillies shirt, decided to take another big swing at the same bank, police said yesterday.

Millison left the PNC Bank in Upper Township with a small amount of cash, authorities said, but his arrest by the FBI and New Jersey state and local police could send him back to prison.

"It seems like the English proverb that says 'old habits die hard' may have come into play," said State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones.

Millison became the target of the investigation, Jones said, after Special Agent Joseph Furey, of the FBI's Atlantic City office, noticed similarities between the July 27 heist and Millison's Aug. 26, 2003, robbery of the same Roosevelt Boulevard bank.

Despite the panty hose covering his face, Millison was identified by Furey as the suspect. Detectives also learned that a man fitting Millison's description had robbed the Pathmark pharmacy in Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County, the same day as the PNC heist.

Millison was arrested about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday inside a vacant home on North Sacramento Avenue in Ventnor.

He was being held on $200,000 bail at the Cape May County jail on two counts of robbery.