Charles Johnson, 28, was arrested after investigators reviewed "extensive" surveillance video following the holdups in June and July, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
Johnson took a similar approach each time, including "using a firearm, committing the robberies in the morning, demanding that employees of the pharmacies provide Johnson with oxycodone, promethazine, and other prescription medication, and threatening to shoot individuals in the pharmacies with a firearm," the U.S. attorney said.
A U.S. District Court judge in Newark on Friday, Oct. 21, ordered that Johnson remain held on three counts of Hobbs Act Robbery and three counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Sellinger credited members of the FBI's Newark Field Office, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and Elizabeth police with the investigation leading to the arrest.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Ecker of Sellinger's General Crimes Unit in Newark.
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