Two in custody after armed robbery of pizzeria in East Rutherford

By Travis Tormey on Monday, December 17, 2012

Two of four suspects have been arrested and charged with armed robbery after the alleged robbery of Papa John’s in East Rutherford last week. The other two suspects, potentially juveniles, are still being investigated. According to the Bergen Record article entitled, “Two charged in armed robbery of East Rutherford Papa John’s”, “[i]n the armed robbery, three females and one male entered the store on Wednesday night, and the male produced a black handgun and two of the females had knives, forcing employees and a customer to lie on the floor and taking $585 from the cash register, police said.”

This is an armed robbery under N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1 which provides in pertinent part:

§ 2C:15-1. Robbery

a. Robbery defined. A person is guilty of robbery if, in the course of committing a theft, he:

(1) Inflicts bodily injury or uses force upon another; or

(2) Threatens another with or purposely puts him in fear of immediate bodily injury; or

(3) Commits or threatens immediately to commit any crime of the first or second degree.

An act shall be deemed to be included in the phrase “in the course of committing a theft” if it occurs in an attempt to commit theft or in immediate flight after the attempt or commission.

b. Grading. Robbery is a crime of the second degree, except that it is a crime of the first degree if in the course of committing the theft the actor attempts to kill anyone, or purposely inflicts or attempts to inflict serious bodily injury, or is armed with, or uses or threatens the immediate use of a deadly weapon.

As a result, this is a first degree armed robbery charge punishable by ten (10) to twenty (20) years in New Jersey state prison. It is also subject to the No Early Release Act (known as “NERA”) which means that the defendant, if convicted, must serve 85% of his or her prison term before becoming eligible for parole.


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