New robbery by armed trio with badges

Thursday, December 31, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

For the second time in recent months, gun-wielding men displaying badges have committed an armed robbery in Jersey City, police said.

Police responded at 11:28 p.m. Tuesday to the Marion Gardens housing complex, where a 29-year-old man told them he was approached by three men, each carrying a handgun and with a gold, star-shaped badge hanging from his neck, reports said.

The men ordered him to the ground and went through his pockets without taking anything before running east through a parking lot and toward Dales Avenue, reports said.

Three armed men wearing badges also assaulted a man the night of Oct. 7 at Chopin Place and Montgomery Street, ordering the 28-year-old out of his car at gunpoint, throwing him to the ground and punching him in the face while demanding to know "Where are the drugs," reports said.

The men took that victim's wallet and searched his car, including emptying the glove compartment and pulling a panel out of the dashboard, reports said. One of the men then said, "Let him go, let him go," and they fled without taking anything, reports said.

A security guard stationed off Montgomery Street said he saw three men fitting the descriptions and thought they were narcotics officers, reports said.

The guard said all three men had black handguns, and one of them said "We are police officers, step back," reports said.