NEWARK, NJ—The Newark Division of the FBI has recently partnered with the Wall Township and Old Bridge Police Departments in New Jersey to identify and apprehend an armed, masked man and his accomplice who committed two separate armed robberies of two jewelry stores and may be linked to two auto thefts in New York City that are connected to the jewelry robberies. Authorities believe the duo has ties to Staten Island in New York City. Although this is a case that spans two years, two states, three jurisdictions, and four crimes, law enforcement has peeled back the layers to reveal common links between all of them.
The puzzle started coming together two years ago after an armed robbery in the quiet town of Wall Township, NJ. Shortly before 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, Ballew Jewelers, located at 2150 State Highway 35 (located in the Brook 35 Plaza), Sea Girt, New Jersey, an unidentified, masked man entered the store and pointed a silver semi-automatic handgun at the two employees inside. He ordered both employees to the back of the store and demanded very specific merchandise. (Law enforcement is withholding further description of this merchandise for investigative purposes.) He put the merchandise into an unmarked brown paper shopping bag. Once he got the items he demanded, he calmly walked out of the store, leaving the two employees unharmed. The entire incident lasted about three minutes and was captured on store security cameras. Ballew Jewelers sustained substantial financial losses.
Upon studying the video and interviewing witnesses, law enforcement noticed some distinguishing features about the robbery. First, the robber arrived by himself in what appeared to be a white box truck. He parked in the lot just outside the front door of the store near a small, dark-colored car. The car pulled away just as the robber was about to leave the store. The robber went back to the box truck and drove away after the robbery. That box truck was recovered the next day at a nearby shopping plaza (located at 2100 State Highway 35 in Wall Township) and identified as a U-Haul box truck with graffiti on the sides that had been reported stolen by Etna Motors Inc., a rental company located at 1264 Castleton Avenue in Staten Island, New York City.
The robber, described as a white male with a stocky build, about 5’10” tall, wore a hooded jacket or sweatshirt with a camouflage pattern similar to the type hunters would wear, as opposed to the military style. He may have had a two-way radio with him during the robbery. He also wore his keys on a lanyard around his neck. The mask he wore was either clear or flesh-colored. The robber walked with an unusual gait, perhaps the result of an injury or chronic condition. Based on his movements in the video captured by security cameras, the robber appeared to be right-handed. Fingerprints were not obtained, either from the store or the truck, because the robber wore grey or light blue gardening gloves throughout the incident.
Wall Township Police disseminated the details of this robbery through law enforcement channels in the hope that another department was familiar with this robbery subject and his modus operandi (m.o.). They got lucky. They were contacted by the Old Bridge Police Department regarding a similar robbery that had occurred almost a year and half prior to the Ballew’s robbery. A jewelry store, located on U.S. Highway No. 9 in Old Bridge, NJ, was robbed by a lone gunman at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Thursday, October 25, 2007. The robbery was captured by security cameras. A large, white male, approximately 5’9” - 5’10” tall, 180 - 200 lbs., entered the store. He was wearing an orange cap with a dark “S” on the front, dark-colored vent holes and a dark, nubby pin on the top, and a dark logo on the right side; a plastic mask described as off-white or tan colored; a gray zip-up jacket with black sections and stripes on the shoulders and sides; dark pants; grey or light blue gardening gloves; white sneakers; and a lanyard around his neck that appeared to have a stopwatch hanging from it. He displayed a black semiautomatic handgun with silver near the grips which he had pulled from his waistband and held in his right hand. He carried an orange bag with him.
The man walked directly up to the employees, never stopping to look in the display cases. He had his hand in his pocket and ordered both of the employees to lie on the floor, telling them not to press any alarms and threatening, “Your family doesn’t want to lose you.” After fumbling with the cases, he demanded the key from the employees. However, the robber still could not open the lock, so he ordered one of the employees to assist him. Together, they emptied the contents of four display cases into the orange bag. The robber once again ordered the employee to lie on the floor next to her co-worker. Shortly after the robber left, both employees reported hearing a vehicle leave at a high rate of speed. The employee who helped the robber also reported hearing some type of two-way radio coming from under the robber’s jacket. The Old Bridge jewelry store—like the Wall Township store, sustained substantial financial losses from the robbery.
The following Sunday, October 28, 2007, a suspicious vehicle, a Budget rental truck, was reported parked in the lot of the A&P supermarket located at 3500 Route 9 South in Old Bridge, NJ. Some of the items stolen from jewelry store that past Thursday evening were discovered on the ground below the driver’s side door of the truck. Further investigation revealed that the truck had been reported stolen from Budget Rent-A-Car located at 1317 Castleton Avenue, Staten Island, NY. That address is approximately one block from Etna Motors Inc. from which the U-Haul truck used in the Ballew’s robbery was stolen.
Investigators obtained security camera video from the U-Haul theft at Etna Motors, Inc. which occurred on October 17, 2007. In this video, the thief is observed parking a dark-colored compact car in the lot of Etna Motors in close proximity to the Budget rental trucks. He is a tall, white man with a bald or shaved head. He gets out of the car, walks in the direction of the trucks (off-camera), and returns to retrieve something from the trunk of his car. He goes back toward the truck, and then returns to his car and drives away. After a few minutes, he passes by the rental lot again twice. Finally, he is observed in front of the rental lot again on foot, but it is not clear if he drove or if he walked there. Shortly thereafter, one of the Budget rental trucks is observed backing out of the lot and drives away westbound on Castleton Avenue. The truck was reported stolen the following day.
In January of 2010, the Wall Township Police detective working the Ballew Jewelers robbery attended the Monmouth Ocean County Investigators Bureau (MOCIB) meeting. MOCIB is a monthly inter-agency meeting whereby members of local, state, and federal law enforcement in Monmouth and Ocean Counties get together to share information, discuss crime trends, and broaden their interagency networks overall. At this meeting, the detective met the supervisor of FBI Newark’s Red Bank office, briefed him on the two robberies, and explained the Staten Island connection in both of them. The FBI opened a Hobbs Act investigation. (The Hobbs Act is the federal law that prohibits both the conspiracy to commit and the actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce under Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1951.) Though they are pursuing new investigative leads, law enforcement is also turning to the public through the media for assistance.
Law enforcement is confident that the same actors committed the two auto thefts on Staten Island and the two jewelry store robberies in New Jersey. This theory is based on the following information:
1.The vehicles used in both New Jersey robberies were rental box trucks stolen from within a block of each other on Staten Island.
2.A dark-colored, compact car—likely the same dark-colored, compact car—was seen at or connected to three of the four crimes. This car is probably a four-door Subaru Impreza, based on the video images.
3.The robber wore a clear, plastic mask in both robberies, as well as a lanyard around his neck and blue or grey gardening gloves. It was also reported by witnesses in each robbery that the robber had a two-way radio on his person, possibly to communicate with the driver of the compact car.
4.In both robberies, the robber was a large, white, male –about 5’10” tall, stocky, and 180-200 lbs. He was also right-handed. He had his head covered in both robberies, possibly to hide a bald or shaved head (based on the video), or distinguishing mark. The thief of the Budget rental truck was a bald, white male who drove a dark compact car.
5.In each robbery, the robber immediately went to the employees and made demands. He did not stop to look what was in the cases, indicating he was robbing the store for specific items.
6.In both robberies, the robber used a handgun. However, based on the video footage, he did not appear to be trained in the use of handguns. (He held the gun with his finger on the trigger; he waved it around; he put it into his loose pocket; he even placed in on the counter at one point in one of the robberies.)
7.In both robberies, the robber drove the stolen getaway truck to a nearby shopping plaza. Based on security camera video of one of those locations, he met his accomplice in the compact car, into which he transferred the stolen items and left the scene in that vehicle with the driver. He left behind some of the stolen merchandise at each of these secondary crime scenes.
8.Both robberies were committed in the middle of the week near the end of the business day.
9.The robber remained calm in both robberies. Although he presented a weapon and made threats to the store employees, he did not raise his voice, nor did he use any physical violence in either of the robberies.
The robber revealed some interesting details about himself in his choice of clothing for these crimes. In the Old Bridge robbery of 2007, the robber wore an orange ball cap with a dark “S,” dark vent holes, and a dark logo on the right side. A careful analysis and research of these details revealed that this hat was, in fact, a Syracuse basketball hat manufactured exclusively by Top of the World (TOW) Caps and sold in retail stores such as JC Penny and Kohl’s. Although it is now also sold online, the majority of sales of this cap before and at the time of the robbery were in the retail department stores. The lettering on the side of the hat, which says “Big East Conference,” is licensed exclusively to TOW Caps. Investigators were able to confirm these facts with Top of the World Caps.
In the second robbery, the robber wore a camouflage zipper-hooded jacket or sweatshirt. However, a close examination of the video footage revealed that this camouflage appears to be of the hunting variety as opposed to the military type. This type of clothing is typically only purchased and worn by sportsmen who hunt or fish and is usually only found in sporting goods stores or online hunting and fishing supply companies, not the more common retail store. Therefore, it logical to reason the robber may be an outdoorsman.
Law enforcement authorities are asking anyone with information about the robbery or the theft of the rental truck to contact the Wall Township Police Department at (732) 449-4500, the Old Bridge Police Department at (732) 280-4222 ext. 157, or the FBI at (973) 792-3000. Citizens should never attempt to apprehend a fugitive on their own and should dial 911 in an emergency.
A DVD containing an edited version of the security camera video and photographs of the robber has been prepared by the FBI for distribution to the media. Additionally, the Wall Township and Old Bridge Police, along with the FBI will make personnel available for on-camera interviews. However, it is requested that the media not seek to interview the particular store employees present during the robbery as they are witnesses in the case. To request a copy of this video and arrange interviews, send an e-mail to newark.media@icl.fbi.gov or contact the FBI’s Public Affairs Office at (973) 792-3020. (Please take care not to direct tipsters to this number.)
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