FBI: Brooklyn Men Charged in T-Mobile Armed Robbery String

The FBI arrested two Brooklyn men Wednesday they say are responsible for a string of robberies to T-Mobile stores including the January armed robbery of the Paramus Route 17 location, according to the U.S. District Attorney of New Jersey office. 

Unique Randolph, 26, and Sulayman Graham, 30, both of Brooklyn were charged with separate criminal complaints with one count each of committing Hobbs Act robbery. According to the statement, Randolph, who allegedly committed the armed robbery of the Paramus store, has also been charged with one count of using a firearm in furtherance of the crime. 

Both are set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark court on Wednesday. 

The FBI has been investigating the string of armed robberies which took place between May 2012 and January 2013 in T-Mobile stores in Linden, Woodbridge and Paramus. Four other New York men - Terrell McQueen, Leonard Arrington, Carl Williams and Eric Williams (no relation -  were arrested and indicted previously in connection with the investigation and charges against them are pending. 

The criminal complaint filed against Randolph alleges he and a co-conspirator entered the Paramus T-Mobile store on the afternoon of Jan. 16, displayed a firearm and forced three employees and a customer into a back room. 

The complaint states that the pair tied up 2 employees and the customer and forced the third employee by gunpoint to open the store's safe and fill two laundry bags with 70 cell phones.  Five hundred dollars in cash was stolen from the safe, according to the complaint. 

A UPS employee who entered the store during the robbery was also forced at gunpoint to join the restrained group, according to the complaint. 

The complaint against Graham alleges he drove two men in the get away car in the Oct. 2 armed robbery of the Woodbridge T-Mobile. 

Charges of Hobbs Act Robbery carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and the charge of use of fireman to carry out a crime of violence carries a maximum penalty of life in prison with a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years which must run consecutively. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000. 

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