An armed robbery inside the men's room of the Pleasantville Wawa led to the arrest of an Atlantic City man recently freed after being cleared in a gun case.
Vance Golden, 27, was one of two men released in August after charges were dropped connecting them to a gun in a car that fled a Pleasantville High School football game where a 10-year-old was fatally shot.
Now, Golden is accused of robbing a man a gunpoint the bathroom of the Wawa on Delilah Road and the Black Horse Pike.
Police were called to the Wawa at 11:39 a.m., and received several calls about a man being threatened with a gun or "mugged" in the bathroom, Capt. Matt Hartman said.
The unnamed victim told police that an armed man stole several hundred dollars from him, according to the report.
Video surveillance allowed police to release descriptions of the suspect and the vehicle he left in to neighboring police departments, Hartman said.
At 2:20 p.m., Atlantic City Sgt. Charles Stuart and Detective Darrin Lorady saw a man matching the suspect's description in the city's Brigantine Homes section, according to the report.
The man — who turned out to be Golden — was then seen getting into the suspect vehicle, Hartman said.
Stuart and Lorady stopped the vehicle in the 900 block of N. North Carolina Avenue, and found Golden in possession of a handgun, according to the report.
Two passengers — Carolyn Simms, 30, and Shanie Valentine, 32 — were also taken into custody after packaged drugs believed to be heroin were found inside the vehicle, the Atlantic City charges state.
Atlantic City police charged Golden with weapons and drug charges, including possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
The two Atlantic City women were charged with drug possession and distribution and released on summonses.
Golden will be additionally charged by Pleasantville police with robbery, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a firearm, terroristic threats, theft, and weapons offenses.
He was taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
The Pleasantville Police Department thanked Atlantic City's Stuart and Lorady "for their outstanding work in locating Golden." Pleasantville Violent Crimes Unit Detective Astrid Aurelus is investigating the case, assisted by Detective Pablo Solórzano.
