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An ex-con from Paterson fired a pair of shots in a drug store robbery, then fled a second pharmacy holdup in Passaic empty-handed when employees there refused to comply, said federal authorities who now have him in custody.
Antonio Rivera, 46, demanded Percocet, morphine and oxycodone at gunpoint in an unidentified Paterson drug store this past Feb. 8, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
An employee complied after Rivera fired a shot, Sellinger said.
Another handed over cash from a register after Rivera squeezed off a second round, the U.S. attorney said.
Things went down differently on April 5.
Rivera demanded money from the cash register while pointing a handgun at an employee's head at the Passaic Community Pharmacy on Passaic Street, authorities said.
The employee refused, Sellinger said.
Rivera then pointed the gun at another employee, demanded pills and fired a shot -- which also had no effect, he said.
He then bolted through a rear door.
No one was injured in either incident, responders said.
SEE: Shot Fired In Attempted Passaic Drug Store Robbery
A special FBI task force at Garrett Mountain Resident Agency took charge of the investigation, working with the Passaic County Sheriff's Office, police from Passaic, Clifton and Paterson and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Sellinger said.
Witness descriptions and security video led them to Rivera, the U.S. attorney said.
"Ballistics evidence shows that the same firearm was used in both robberies," he added.
Rivera was charged federally with interference with commerce by robbery, attempted interference with commerce by robbery and "using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence," Sellinger said.
A federal judge in Newark ordered Rivera held pending trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sophie Kaiser of Sellinger's General Crimes Unit in Newark is handling the case.
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