Fugitive in $150K NJ armed robbery caught 15 years later, prosecutors say

🚨 Man caught after living under false identity for over 10 years

🚨 Restaurant heist netted $150,000 cash

🚨 The robbery had an inside man

WOODBRIDGE — A fugitive Trinidadian man on the FBI's Most Wanted list in New Jersey has been caught in California, according to authorities.

Kofi Edwards was the last remaining suspect wanted in connection to an armed robbery in Woodbridge over 15 years ago. Three other people have been convicted and sentenced for the heist.

Edwards, 51, of Trinidad and Tobago, was arrested out west earlier this month and extradited to New Jersey, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He had been a fugitive since being indicted in 2014.

Edwards appeared in federal court in Newark on Monday and pleaded not guilty to three charges including conspiracy to commit armed Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

According to federal prosecutors, Edwards was one of four people who conspired to rob a Woodbridge steakhouse in 2009.

One of the conspirators was a restaurant employee and knew that only managers had access to the safe. He called ahead of the robbery to make sure a manager was working.

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Edwards and another member of the team then went inside the steakhouse. While Edwards had a fake gun, the other robber was armed with a real firearm.

They forced the restaurant employees to open the safe, then bound them with plastic zip ties. Edwards and his conspirator made off with $150,000 in cash.

Flush with cash, Edwards left New Jersey and lived under a false identity for years until he was arrested this month.

Violent fugitives still on the FBI's Most Wanted list in NJ

Edwards was one of the top six Most Wanted fugitives in New Jersey, as previously reported by New Jersey 101.5.

The other five fugitives remain at large and are listed below. They are all wanted for murder, according to the FBI.

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