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The initial call at 5:15 p.m. yesterday was of an older man being robbed on West Pleasant Avenue near the post office.
“Witnesses at the scene said a younger male knocked to older man to the ground, attempted to grab a bag he was carrying, went through his pockets, then ran to a vehicle and fled,” Detective Sgt. Timothy Moran said.
The license plate number was broadcast and the green, two-door Honda was stopped on Skyline Drive near Oakwood Drive in Ringwood by Franklin Lakes and Ringwood police.
As it turned out, Moran said, that all four went to Maywood to illegally buy prescription drugs.
The three younger men gave 56-year-old Roland Brown of Carlstadt money, sent him into a pharmacy and waited, the sergeant said.
After Brown emerged empty-handed, one of the three assaulted him in an attempt to retrieve the cash, he said.
That man, 18-year-old Austin Demarest, is charged with robbery and attempting to obtain drugs by fraud.
Charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and the same drug fraud charge were both Joshua Walker, 18, and Matthew Flormann, 25.
All three were being held on $75,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail.
Brown, meanwhile, was released on summonses for attempting to obtain drugs by fraud and attempting to sell them.
Roland Brown, Joshua Walker
Austin Demarest, Matthew Flormann
(MUGSHOTS: Courtesy MAYWOOD PD)
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