Suspect remains at large after manhunt

When Omar Boyce, 23, tried to cash a check worth several thousand dollars at Chase Bank, located across Nassau Street from the Rockefeller College dining hall, bank employees suspected the check was fake, prompting Boyce to exit the bank. He then left the scene in a white Mercedes with two other men.

Police found the Mercedes a few blocks away. But as officers approached the car, the suspects “fled the scene at a high rate of speed,” the statement said.

Lieutenant Nicholas Sutter said that the Mercedes “was out of sight almost immediately.” But the suspects only drove about a mile away before crashing the car, which was “severely damaged,” according to the statement.

With the help of witnesses, police arrested Boyce and an alleged accomplice, 25-year-old Laquan Williams, after a 15–20 minute foot chase. Officers found “large amounts of cash” on both suspects, the statement said.

The third suspect, however, was not found. Police from six departments, including K-9 teams from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, ended the initial manhunt after a search that lasted roughly 12 hours. The suspect, whom police described as a “black male in his early 20s wearing a white T-shirt,” was still at large on Tuesday afternoon.

“We are investigating several leads” about the third suspect, Sutter said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Secret Service are assisting the Borough’s investigation because the federal agencies have “many more assets,” are experienced in dealing with bank fraud and can cross jurisdictional lines, Sutter explained.

Authorities have discovered a “widespread” network of identity theft, Sutter said.

“It’s definitely not confined to Princeton, that’s for sure,” Sutter added, noting that authorities had traced leads to New York and North Carolina.

Boyce, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged with two counts of forgery, criminal attempted theft by deception, identity theft and credit card theft, while Williams, of New Brunswick, N.J., was charged with conspiracy to commit each of those crimes. Both were also charged with eluding police.

Both Boyce and Williams remain in jail on $75,000 and $150,000 bail, respectively. Neither had posted bail as of Tuesday afternoon.

The investigation is “very active” at this point, Sutter said.