Summit Man Found Guilty In Armed Gas Station Robbery

SUMMIT — A Union County jury found a Summit man guilty on Tuesday for threatening a gas station attendant at knifepoint in a robbery in 2018, officials said.

Patrick Vermilyea, 47, has now been convicted on three charges — first-degree armed robbery, third-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, and fourth-degree theft of movable property — according to Acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Summit Police Chief Andrew Bartolotti.

Prosecutors said that in the early morning hours of June 5, 2018, Vermilyea, armed with a knife, threatened an employee before entering the attendant’s booth of the Shell gas station on River Road in Summit.

Once inside the booth, Vermilyea stole money and cigarettes before fleeing the scene, the release said.

Vermilyea was later stopped in his vehicle by members of the Millburn Police Department on Interstate 78 and taken into custody.

“This guilty verdict is the culmination of dedicated, hard work by prosecutors and investigators to successfully bring Union County’s first criminal case to trial following the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ruotolo.

The investigation was led by the Summit Police Department and assisted by members of the Millburn Police Department.

Vermilyea will be sentenced Sept. 23. Officials said that due to his previous armed robbery convictions, he faces a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Read past coverage: Summit Man Robbed Gas Station At Knifepoint: Police

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