

Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





A man arrested in Switzerland on Tuesday and accused of committing numerous bank robberies in the GTA pleaded guilty to a string of bank robberies in the United States more than 20 years ago.

Sources tell CTV News Toronto that Jeffrey James Shuman, a 53-year-old French/American citizen awaiting deportation to Canada, pleaded guilty to 14 bank robberies committed in Florida and Tennessee between Dec. 1992 and June 1993.

According to newspaper reports published at the time, Shuman pleaded guilty to the robberies in February and March of 1995. Prosecutors said Shuman netted $86,400 from those robberies.

Shuman is accused of robbing 22 banks in the GTA, Ottawa and the Calgary area between 2010 and May 2015.

In the first of the Canadian robberies, investigators said the suspect would physically hurl himself over the bank’s countertop to acquire cash from tellers. The move earned him the moniker the “vaulter bandit.” In later incidents, police said the suspect led bank employees to a vault before taking cash.

The Canadian Bankers’ Association had offered $100,000 for information that led to the suspect’s arrest and conviction.

Shuman was arrested by plainclothes officers in Geneva, Switzerland while driving a car. York Regional Police said they believe Shuman was living in France recently.