Trini on FBI's 'Most Wanted' list held in US

A Trinidadian who was on the FBI's Most Wanted List in connection with a US$150,000 armed heist in New Jersey has been arrested.

On July 30, the arrest of Kofi Edwards, 51, was highlighted in several media outlets, including the New York Post.

Edwards relocated from New Jersey and had been living under a false identity. Edwards was a fugitive for over ten years.

On July 29, a statement from attorney Philip R Sellinger of the US Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, reported that Edwards faced several charges in connection with the armed robbery of a steakhouse in 2009.

He was arrested in California on July 9 and appeared in court on July 10 before US Magistrate Judge Chi Soo Kim in Sacramento. He was then detained and transported to the District of New Jersey.

Edwards appeared before US Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court on July 29 and pleaded not guilty.

He was charged by indictment in 2014 with one count of conspiracy to commit armed Hobbs Act robbery, one count of Hobbs Act robbery, and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Based on court documents filed in the case, Edwards conspired with other people to rob a steakhouse restaurant in Woodbridge, New Jersey, at gunpoint in March 2009.

The statement said a conspirator, an employee of the restaurant at the time, called the restaurant to determine if any managers were present because he knew that only managers could open the restaurant's safe.

After confirming that a manager was there, Edwards and another person entered the restaurant – Edwards carrying a fake gun and the other had a real gun – and brandished the weapons while demanding that employees open the safe.

After the employees complied, Edwards and the other person bound the employees with plastic zip ties and fled with about US$150,000.

He was added to the FBI's "Most Wanted" list and the FBI offered a reward of up to US $10,000 for information leading directly to his arrest.

Three other defendants have been convicted and sentenced in connection with the Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy.

Edwards faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the counts of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and Hobbs Act robbery.

On the count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, Edwards faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of seven years – which must run consecutively to any other sentence Edwards receives – and a maximum potential penalty of life in prison.

Each count also carries a fine of up to US$250,000, or twice the gain or loss from the offences, whichever is higher.

The charges result from an investigation by the Newark Central Jersey Safe Streets Task Force.

Led by the FBI, the Task Force focuses on violent crime and gang violence and is made up of agents and task force officers from the New Brunswick Police Department, Middlesex County Prosecutors Office, Raritan Township Police Department, Woodbridge Police Department, Hackettstown Police Department, Clinton Township Police Department, and Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office.

Attorney Sellinger credited the special agents and task force officers of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charges.

He also thanked the FBI's Sacramento, California, Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Siddhartha Patel, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations, under the direction of Field Office Director John Tsoukaris.

Assistant US Attorney Trevor A Chenoweth of the General Crimes Unit in Newark represented the government.

The statement added that the charges and allegations in the indictment were merely accusations, and the defendant was presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.