'Sorry. This is a robbery!': N.J. man apologizes before robbing bank

Steven Rice, of Barrington, has been charged with four counts of bank robbery.

PHILADELPHIA -- A Camden County man who allegedly used an apologetic note in a recent heist has been charged with robbing nearly $10,000 from four banks in Center City over the last year. 

Steven Rice, 41, of Barrington, allegedly committed the last of the four bank robberies on June 30, when a criminal complaint said he entered the Wells Fargo Bank on Market Street in Philadelphia, handed a teller a note and fled with $4,500. 

The note, according to the complaint, said: "Sorry. This is a robbery! I want all lOO's 50's 20's in drawer. NO INK PACKS. No silent alarms or cops until I leave. No one gets hurt." 

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Rice was arrested less than a week later by members of the FBI and Philadelphia Police Department Violent Crimes Task Force and confessed to the Wells Fargo Bank robbery, as well as several others, the complaint said.

A grand jury last week indicted Rice on four counts of bank robbery for incidents going back to the summer of 2015 in Philadelphia, court records show. He faces up a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison if convicted, authorities said. 

Rice robbed $2,680 from the Beneficial Bank on Chestnut Street, $1,981 from the Republic Bank on Walnut Street, $584.77 from the Firstrust Bank on Market Street and $4,500 from the Well Fargo Bank on Market Street, the indictment said.

Following the last robbery, Rice called the apartment complex from which he had been evicted and said he "had all of the money that he owed for rent," according to the criminal complaint. That amount was $2,197, the complaint said. 

Rice's attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.