Lavell Jones, Armed Robbery, New Jersey 2012

TRENTON, N.J. – In a brazen heist, Lavell Jones, 29, and DaQuaan Vaughn, 36, two Newark men, admitted to robbing a Target store in Union, New Jersey, on Black Friday in November 2012. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, the two men, along with two other accomplices, Darrell A. Carter, 24, of Irvington, and Maryland Liggins, 29, of Newark, carried out the armed robbery on November 23, 2012.

The men, armed with a firearm, restrained Target employees with zip ties and stole more than $50,000 from a cash cart and safe. The getaway driver, Liggins, was waiting in a vehicle parked on the shoulder of nearby Route 78. Jones posed as a shopper and served as a lookout inside the store, alerting the others when the store was closing and money was being transferred from the store’s registers to the cash room.

DaQuaan Vaughn pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson on September 16, 2014, to a superseding information charging him with one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Vaughn also pleaded guilty to an unrelated count of firearms trafficking in connection with his unlawful sale of firearms between April and June 2012.

Lavell Jones pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an indictment charging him with one count of Hobbs Act robbery. Sentencing for Vaughn is scheduled for January 6, 2015, and sentencing for Jones is scheduled for January 7, 2015.

The charge of Hobbs Act robbery carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. The charge of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carries a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, which must run consecutively to any other prison term. The firearms trafficking charge against Vaughn carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison. Each of these counts also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, with the investigation leading to the guilty pleas. He also thanked the Union Police Department for its role in the investigation and Target corporate security for its cooperation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas P. Grippo of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

Defense counsel for the defendants include Peter Carter Esq., Newark, for Darrell A. Carter; Joseph Rotella Esq., Newark, for Maryland Liggins; Timothy Donohue Esq., West Orange, New Jersey, for DaQuaan Vaughn; and Richie Roberts Esq., Newark, for Lavell Jones.

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