According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, Joshua M. Perez was involved in a series of criminal activities. He, along with two other individuals, committed an armed robbery during a carjacking incident on October 10. Additionally, they were responsible for another carjacking on December 5. Later that same night, they carried out a robbery at a local gas station.
According to Sellinger, a video recorded by surveillance cameras shows Perez and two other robbers exiting a sedan and brandishing handguns at the occupants of another vehicle.
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According to the U.S. attorney, the perpetrators escaped with both cash and cellphones in the victims’ vehicle, as well as the car they arrived in during the October robbery.
Sellinger said that they found the second car abandoned, with a fingerprint of Perez’s and a cellphone belonging to one of the victims inside.
Two months later, two robbers brandished guns at a different victim, making off with the driver’s car, money, and cellphone, according to the victim.
Investigators discovered that the car had been used just one hour later in the armed robbery of a gas station in Trenton.
According to Sellinger, the victims were ordered to the ground and then pistol-whipped by the trio. Meanwhile, Perez entered the station and proceeded to rob the attendant at gunpoint.
According to him, Perez was once again identified through the use of security camera footage.
According to the U.S. attorney, Perez was apprehended peacefully after brandishing a firearm at the individuals who had held him captive. During the search of his residence, law enforcement discovered a gun and other incriminating evidence that linked him to the crimes.
Perez, who served 2ยฝ years in state prison for a resisting arrest conviction, was released in May 20. However, he quickly found himself back in custody for an unrelated case when federal prosecutors brought new charges against him.
Perez opted to accept a plea deal offered by the government instead of facing the uncertainties of a trial. He pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, carjacking, and multiple weapons offenses.
The deal, despite being challenging, spanned a total of 192 months.
Perez will have to serve a minimum of 13ยฝ years in the federal prison system before he becomes eligible for release, as there is no parole granted in this system.
U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner handed down the sentence to him in Newark on Thursday, May 30. In addition to the prison term, he was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution to the victims.
The investigation leading to the plea and sentence was credited to the special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Newark Field Division’s Trenton Satellite Office, along with the Trenton police and detectives from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander E. Ramey and Ashley Super Pitts from the Criminal Division in Trenton secured the plea and sentence.
The Violent Crime Initiative (VCI) in Mercer County is currently conducting an investigation. It is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Trenton police. This initiative brings together various law enforcement agencies at the state, federal, county, and local levels to combat violent crime in and around the capitol city.
The participants in this collaborative effort include Sellinger’s office, the FBI, the ATF, the DEA New Jersey Division, U.S. Marshals, and the N.J. State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center.
