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An intense investigation of the May 14 carjacking and robbery produced the arrests this week of two 20-year-old men and the detention of a 17-year-old boy, all from Paterson, according to Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella.
Investigators also seized two handguns during simultaneous raids on Monday, the prosecutor announced on Wednesday, Aug. 30.
It was around 8 o’clock on a Sunday night when the victim was ambushed as he sat in his Lexus sedan outside his Botany Street home, he said.
Two of the robbers pointed guns at him while demanding cash, jewelry and the vehicle, Musella said.
The victim, who was uninjured, ran to safety as the robbers sped off in the Lexus, he said.
Working together, members of Musella’s Special Investigations Squad and Garfield police identified two unemployed Paterson men, Christopher Gonzalez and Raekwon J. Norwood, and the juvenile.
Gonzalez – who turned 20 this past weekend – already had a criminal record involving a series of offenses that have escalated into violence.
He, Norwood, also 20, and the teen were all seized at their homes during court-warranted raids on Aug. 28 that turned up the two handguns, the prosecutor said.
Gonzalez and Norwood were charged with carjacking, robbery, aggravated assault, conspiracy and weapons offenses that, for Gonzalez, also include possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Both remained held in the Bergen County Jail.
The teen was issued a delinquency complaint alleging similar offenses before being sent to a juvenile detention center. His case will be handled behind closed doors in the Special Part of Family Court in Hackensack because of his age, the prosecutor said.
The fourth robber has yet to be identified, Musella said.
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