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Jaime Fontanez, 45, of Elizabeth and two accomplices went on a six-month armed robbery spree beginning in August 2018, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Federal authorities tied the crew to 13 holdups in all in Essex, Union and Middlesex counties, as well as in the Bronx and upstate New York, the U.S. attorney said.
The robbers followed a basic script, with two of them going into the business with their faces covered while a wheelman waited in a getaway car, Sellinger said.
One of the robbers held employees and customers at gunpoint while the other rifled through the cash register, he said.
It all ended after a liquor store holdup in Bloomfield went sideways.
According to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark, the pair couldn't open the regsiter and were chased off by employees and customers.
One of the robbers squeezed off a shot as they fled. No one was struck.
Bloomfield police interviewed victims and witnesses, reviewed security video from the store and a nearby neighborhood and retrieved the shell casing, the complaint says.
Surveillance video helped identify the getaway car, a silver Honda Civic, that was traced to Carmen Abreu, also of Elizabeth.
Both men were together when they were later arrested.
Fontanez refused to talk, but Abreu waived her Miranda rights, telling investigators that she was home sleeping when the robberies were committed.
She also consented to a search of the car, which turned up multiple pairs of gloves, a cell phone owned by Fontanez, and an E-Z Pass transponder linked to an account registered in Fontanez's name.
A lack of enough evidence led police to release Abreu and Fontanez while continuing their investigation.
Information culled from Fontanez's phone and E-Z Pass account later led to his re-arrest, which was followed by a multiple-count federal indictment charging him with robbery, conspiracy and weapons-related offenses.
Rather than risk a trial, Fontanez took a deal from the government, pleading guilty to several counts from the indictment.
U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler scheduled sentencing for April 26, 2023.
The charges against the other defendants are still pending.
Sellinger credited special agents with the FBI with the investigation leading to the guilty plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracey Agnew of his Trenton office and Shawn Barnes of his Criminal Division in Newark. He also thanked police from Bloomfield, Elizabeth, Kenilworth, Linden, Rahway, Union and Woodbridge, as well as New Jersey State Police.
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