North Plainfield Police Department

Chief William Parenti

Press Release

May 21, 2008

North Plainfield Police Chief William G. Parenti announced yesterday that a borough resident was arrested and charged with seven counts of first degree robbery.  Stephon Gardner, 20 years of age, of 170 Grove Street was incarcerated at the Somerset County Jail in lieu of bail after police linked him to seven robberies that had occurred in the borough between the dates of April 8th and May 21st. 

Two of the robberies occurred during the afternoon hours to pedestrians in the borough; the other five incidents were of businesses on Route 22 in the early morning hours.  Although the defendant never displayed a weapon, he made strong inferences that he was in possession of one. The defendant made off with a substantial amount of money in total, none of which was recovered. Chief Parenti indicated that detectives and patrol officers were actively following all leads and had developed several people of interest in the investigations.   

Shortly after 6:30 am on Wednesday, the defendant went into a borough business on Route 22 and demanded money of a lone employee. When another employee entered the room the suspect ran out of the building and fled the scene with the employee in pursuit.  Following up leads generated from that incident, police were able to zero in on one particular suspect.  Police were able to make made contact with the suspect without incident.  The following investigation definitively linked him to the seven robberies.  Bail was set at $250,000.00 by Superior Court Justice Armstrong.  Chief Parenti said “the investigations were concluded successfully because all the members of the Patrol Division and Investigation Division shared information and followed up leads and acted as one.”