Police: Lotto Player Turned Robber, 53, Threatens To Torch North Jersey Convenience Store

An Essex County lottery player threatened to burn down a North Jersey convenience store in order to carry out a robbery, authorities charged.

Elvis Holder, 53, of East Orange, threatened to torch a Bloomfield convenience store without cash from the register, police said.
Photo Credit: *Google Maps/Bloomfield police*

Valerie Musson

03/03/2021 11:09 a.m.

Elvis Holder, 53, asked a cashier to play lottery numbers for him at DJH News Stand on La France Avenue around 8 p.m. on Feb. 22, Bloomfield Public Safety Director Samuel DeMaio said.

Holder, of East Orange, started pouring an unknown substance from a Nestle water bottle onto the counter, took out a lighter and told the cashier to “give him everything in the register” while threatening to ignite the substance, DeMaio said.

Holder escaped with the cash from the NJ Lottery drawer, which totaled $968, police said.

He was identified via surveillance footage and taken into custody from the backyard of a home in East Orange two days later, police said.

Holder was charged with robbery, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose.

He was taken to Essex County Correctional Facility pending a hearing.

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