Voorhees, new jersey man admits role in robbery of gas station owner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
February 9, 2011 |
CAMDEN, N.J. – A Voorhees, N.J. man today admitted his role in the robbery of $65,440 from a gas station owner outside a TD Bank in Deptford, N.J., U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Dashawn Cheek, 21, pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with one count of aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery. Cheek 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 his brother Dashawn Cheek 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. Dashawn Cheek admitted that on the day of the robbery, he, his brother, and co-conspirator Jamaine Levi 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, Dashawn Cheek and his brother 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 Dashawn Cheek pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Rodriguez continued the defendant’s $100,000 bond pending sentencing, scheduled for May 16, 2011.
Dashawn Cheek was arrested pursuant to a Complaint on November 19, 2010. Levi and Jordan were arrested on November 29, 2010. Donnell Cheek pleaded guilty to related charges on October 21, 2010, and awaits sentencing; the charges against Levi and 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 defendants Levi and Jordan, the charges and allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Defense counsel: Frederick W. Klepp, Esq., Cherry Hill, N.J.
