Newark Man Charged in Armed Robberies of New Jersey Stores
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 12, 2013 |
NEWARK, NJ—FBI special agents arrested a Newark, New Jersey man in Newark this morning for alleged offenses in connection with armed robberies of a Krauszers Food Store in West Orange, New Jersey, and a Subway restaurant in Verona, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Antwon Yarbrough, 27, is charged by complaint with two counts of committing a Hobbs Act robbery and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence. He appeared this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Dickson in Newark and was detained.
According to the criminal complaint unsealed today:
On April 24, 2013, Yarbrough and another individual entered a Krauszers in West Orange wearing dark hoodies, face masks, and gloves. Yarbrough used a plastic ziptie to secure the door from the inside while the other individual pointed a gun at the clerk and pushed the clerk to the floor. Yarbrough bound the hands and feet of two other individuals in the store, striking one in the head with his forearm. The other robber tied up the clerk with zipties and struck the clerk’s head with the gun. Yarbrough and the other robber then emptied the cash register, stole several cartons of cigarettes, and fled.
On May 20, 2013, Yarbrough and two other individuals entered a Subway restaurant in Verona, again wearing dark hoodies, face masks, and gloves. The two robbers accompanying Yarbrough brandished firearms. After entering the restaurant, the robbers restrained a Subway employee with zipties, emptied the cash register, and fled.
The Hobbs Act charges each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The charge of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other prison term. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest. He also thanked the Belleville, Bloomfield, Kearny, Linden, Maplewood, Newark, Paramus, Verona, and West Orange Police Departments, along with the New Jersey State Police and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, for their work on this case.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jamari Buxton and Rahul Agarwal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.