TRENTON, N.J. - A Staten Island, N.Y., man today admitted his role in the robbery of Blue Stove Antiques in Fair Haven, N.J., on June 2, 2012, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Robert A. Fiolka, 69, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton federal court to an Information charging him with Hobbs Act robbery and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On June 2, 2012, at approximately 9:30 a.m., Fiolka entered Blue Stove Antiques in Fair Haven wearing a hat and flesh-colored face mask and brandishing a handgun. Fiolka approached the store owner, pointed the handgun at him and demanded that he open the store’s safe. After the owner opened the safe, Fiolka ordered him to the ground and then proceeded to empty the safe’s contents into a satchel that he had with him. After filling the bag with the safe’s contents, Fiolka exited the store with approximately $200,000 worth of jewelry.
The Hobbs Act robbery charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison; the charge of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of life in prison. Each charge carries a statutory maximum fine equal to the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross loss or gain.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea; he also thanked the Colts Neck Police Department, Fair Haven Police Department, Old Bridge Police Department, Wall Township Police Department, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sentencing before Judge Wolfson is scheduled for July 11, 2013.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fabiana Pierre-Louis of the Criminal Division in Trenton.
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Defense counsel: John W. Mitchell Esq. and Jerome A. Ballarotto Esq.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
