Staten Island, N.Y., Man Sentenced To 114 Months In Prison For Jewelry Store Robbery

TRENTON, N.J. – A Staten Island, N.Y., man was sentenced today to 114 months for his role in the robbery of Blue Stove Antiques in Fair Haven, N.J., on June 2, 2012, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Robert A. Fiolka, 69, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with Hobbs Act robbery and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Fiolka entered Blue Stove Antiques in Fair Haven at approximately 9:30 a.m., on June 2, 2012, wearing a hat and flesh-colored face mask and brandishing a handgun. Fiolka approached the store owner, pointed the handgun at him and demanded that he open the store’s safe. After the owner opened the safe, Fiolka ordered him to the ground and then proceeded to empty the safe’s contents into a satchel that he had with him. After filling the bag with the safe’s contents, Fiolka exited the store with approximately $200,000 worth of jewelry.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Fiolka to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $200,000 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence; he also thanked the Colts Neck Police Department, Fair Haven Police Department, Old Bridge Police Department, Wall Township Police Department, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office for their roles in the case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fabiana Pierre-Louis of the Criminal Division in Trenton.          

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Defense counsel: John W. Mitchell Esq., New York, and Jerome A. Ballarotto Esq., Trenton