HILLSBOROUGH: Alleged robber used baseball bat to threaten store employee, police say

Man also charged in theft less than a week earlier

   Police have charged a Hillsborough 20-year-old man with robbery for allegedly wielding an aluminum baseball bat to take cash from the Philly Pretzel Factory at about 7:30 a.m. Monday.
   In fact, when police charged Julian Moreno, 20, of Regents Court, they filed a second complaint. They also charged Mr. Moreno with the April 12 theft of a bank deposit bag containing $1,126 from the Boro Kid’s Zone, located on Stryker Lane.
   In Monday’s incident, police said they got a call from an employee who said he was robbed as he was opening the store. Police said Mr. Moreno entered the store wearing a mask and carrying a black-and-red duffel bag and a silver-and-red aluminum bat. He allegedly threatened the employee and removed $200 from the cash register. He put the money in the duffel bag and went out the back door, police said.
   Investigation led to the arrest of Mr. Moreno at about 1 p.m. in a vacant office suite at 450 Amwell Road. At that time, police said Mr. Moreno had the mask, bag, bat, a hand-drawn map of the Pretzel Factory store and drug paraphernalia.
   Mr. Moreno was taken to the Somerset County Jail.
   In the April 12 incident, police said Mr. Moreno entered the Kid’s Zone to apply for a job and stole the deposit bag containing the money. In addition to theft, Mr. Moreno was charged with trespassing and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.
   Bail was set at $50,000 cash or bond by Superior Court Judge Margaret Goodzeit.