The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Photo: Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
A 27-year-old township woman remains in the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, facing charges that she committed four armed robberies in Franklin and New Brunswick.
Laquita Cooper of Somerset was arrested July 6 at township police headquarters in connection with the armed robberies, which occurred during the last week of June.
Cooper was arrested at about 3:30 p.m. while she was at the Franklin Township police headquarters in connection with the investigation, according to a release on the arrest from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
Cooper was also charged by New Brunswick police with the failed robbery of a convenience store in that city.
In Somerset County, Cooper was charged with committing three robberies – two with a gun and one with a knife – on Hamilton Street and near Douglas Avenue, according to the release.
Police said that on June 22, Cooper entered a convenience store on Hamilton Street, allegedly pointed a knife at the clerk and demanded money. Cooper escaped with an undetermined amount of cash, according to the release.
On June 25, according to the release, Cooper allegedly pointed a gun at a clerk in a Hamilton Street gas station’s convenience store and demanded money. She fled after getting an unnamed amount of cash, according to the release.
On June 29, while a passenger in a taxi near Douglas Avenue, Cooper allegedly pointed a gun at the taxi driver and demanded cash, according to the release. The driver refused, and Cooper allegedly reached over the seat and grabbed $100 from the center console, according to the release.
The driver, who was not named, wrestled with Cooper and was able to disarm her before she fled, according to the release.
Cooper also allegedly committed the New Brunswick robbery on June 29, according to New Brunswick Police Capt. Joseph T. Miller.
According to Miller, at about 9:40 p.m. that day, Cooper entered the Martinez Deli Market on Jersey Avenue, pointed a handgun at the clerk and demanded money.
The clerk shut the cash register and refused to give her money, after which Cooper fled, Miller said.
In Somerset County, Cooper was charged with three counts of 1st Degree Robbery and one count of 4th Degree Possession of Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, according to the release.
New Brunswick police charged Cooper with Robbery, Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon.
She was lodged in the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, on $250,000 bail, cash only, according to the release.
