Newark Man Pleads Guilty to String of Armed Robberies

A Newark man Thursday admitted he took part in more than a dozen armed robberies at pharmacies, sandwich shops and other small businesses throughout North Jersey, including multiple robberies in Belleville, US Attorney Paul Fishman said.

Bobby Dawson, 30, also pleaded guilty to committing an armed carjacking during a six-month crime spree that began in late 2012.

Dawson faces up to life in prison and hundreds of thousands in dollars in fines when he’s sentenced in March 2014.

In many of the robberies, employees were restrained with zip ties or duct tape at gunpoint before Dawson and an accomplice  cleaned out the cash register.

He robbed Shopper’s Express and Belleville News and Food, both in Belleville; twice at Krauszers in Bloomfield; a Smashburger location in Paramus; and a Subway restaurant in Verona.  

According to an earlier statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Dawson allegedly entered the Belleville News & Food store on April 17 wearing a mask and carrying a gun. Once inside, he told the store clerk not to move or he would shoot before he pointed his firearm at the store clerk’s head and demanded money, Fishman said. The store clerk complied and gave Dawson $2,000 from the cash registers, Fishman said.

In a few cases, Fishman said, the violence escalated. On April 1, Dawson forced a clerk to hit the ground by firing a .380-caliber handgun during the robbery of the MS&K Confectionary in Maplewood. On April 24, Dawson pistol-whipped the employee of a Krauszer’s store in West Orange.

Dawson also struck half a dozen times in Newark -- including twice at Newark Community Pharmacy -- as well as in Linden and Kearny.