Lindenwold, New Jersey Man Admits Role in Robbery of Gas Station Owner

CAMDEN, NJ—A Lindenwold, New Jersey man today admitted his role in the robbery of $65,440 from a gas station owner outside a TD Bank in Deptford, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Jamaine Levi, 22, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery. Levi entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court:

Prior to the robbery on June 11, 2010, Donnell Cheek told Jamaine Levi about a tip he had received from TD Bank teller Stephanie Jordan regarding a bank customer that made large cash deposits. The customer owned several gas stations.

Jamaine Levi admitted that the day of the robbery, he and co-conspirators Donnell and Dashawn Cheek waited near the gas station owner’s house and then followed him to several gas stations and to the TD Bank in Deptford.

At the bank, the Cheek brothers got out of the car, approached the gas station owner, and took his blue Sunoco money bag containing approximately $65,440 in proceeds of his gas stations’ sales. After stealing the money, the Cheeks ran back to where Levi was waiting in the car. They later split the cash.

The count to which Levi pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The defendant has been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest on November 29, 2010. Judge Rodriguez continued the defendant’s detention until sentencing, scheduled for May 23, 2011.

Jordan was also arrested on November 29, 2010. Donnell Cheek pleaded guilty to related charges on October 21, 2010, and awaits sentencing. Dashawn Cheek pleaded guilty on February 9, 2011, and awaits sentencing. The charges against Jordan remain pending.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos, in Philadelphia; investigators with the Camden County and Gloucester County Prosecutors’ Offices, under the direction of Prosecutors Warren W. Faulk and Sean F. Dalton, respectively; and officers with the Voorhees and Deptford Township Police Departments.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Richardson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

As for defendant Jordan, the charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense counsel: Troy A. Archie, Esq., Camden, N.J.