Two More Busted In NJ Phone Store Robbery Probe

Young and old, it seems everybody has a cell phone these days, but in New Jersey not everyone is willing to pay for those phones. This morning in Brooklyn, N.Y., FBI agents arrested two men in connection with the brazen armed robberies of T-Mobile stores in Paramus and Woodbridge.

Brooklyn residents Unique Randolph and Sulayman Graham are both charged with one count each of committing a Hobbs Act robbery. Randolph is also charged with using a gun to pull off the heist. Both men are due in court later this afternoon.

The FBI has been investigating and continues to probe a series of armed robberies in Bergen, Middlesex and Union Counties, between May 2012 and January 2013.

According to one of the criminal complaints, earlier this year, Randolph and another man entered the T-Mobile store in Paramus. After tying up two employees and a customer and forcing them to lie on the floor, they men forced a third employee, at gunpoint, to fill two laundry bags with more than 70 cell phones. During the robbery, a UPS employee walked into the store and was forced at gunpoint to join the restrained group.

If convicted of the Hobbs Act robbery charges, both defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Randolph could be sentenced to life because he allegedly used a weapon while committing the crime.