By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Two employees at the AT&T store on Route 1 and Washington Road, at the Penns Neck traffic circle, were frightened but unharmed after they were forced into a rear storage room during an armed robbery Tuesday night, according to the West Windsor Township Police Department.
The get-away driver and the two robbers who tied up the employees and held them at gunpoint were apprehended. They face charges ranging from armed robbery and kidnapping to weapons offenses, police said.
Gregory T. Smith, 53, and Benjamin Green, 47, both of Philadelphia, were charged with robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and kidnapping, police said.
Tyreane D. Tucker-Brown, 44, of Orange, who was the get-away driver and who led police on a high-speed chase through Plainsboro and West Windsor townships, was charged with robbery, kidnapping and eluding police. She was also issued numerous motor vehicle violations.
The incident, which was reported at 7:58 p.m., began when Smith and Green entered the store shortly before closing time, police said. They forced the two employees into the rear storage room at gunpoint and tied them up with zip ties on their ankles and their wrists with their hands behind their backs.
Police responded to a call about an armed robbery at the store and when officers arrived, they saw a black Chevrolet Equinox sport utility vehicle leaving the parking lot. It had a partially obscured Pennsylvania license plate, which was later found to be fictitious.
A police officer followed the Equinox onto Route 1 North and tried to stop it, but the driver — Tucker-Brown — tried to elude the police officer. She got off Route 1 at Scudders Mill Road in Plainsboro Township and drove onto the overpass and back onto Route 1 South into West Windsor Township.
She drove in an “aggressive” manner, speeding and weaving in and out of traffic lanes, as she tried to get away from the police officer. The Equinox abruptly turned onto Carnegie Center Boulevard westbound, past Canal Pointe Boulevard, and turned onto Heritage Boulevard northbound.
The Equinox came to a halt on Heritage Boulevard at Federal Court, where a police officer who was working an extra-duty traffic assignment apprehended Tucker-Brown without incident.
Meanwhile, the Equinox caught fire because of the extreme and intense driving by Tucker-Brown, police said. Officers tried to extinguish the fire while waiting for firefighters to arrive to put it out.
Back at the AT&T store, Smith and Green came out of the storage room where the two employees were being held. They were taken into custody without incident, while police checked on the welfare of the two victims.
Police recovered two loaded handguns — one of which had two hollow point bullets — and the proceeds from the robbery, police said.
Tucker-Brown, Smith and Green were taken to the Mercer County Corrections Center, pending bail hearings in Mercer County Superior Court.
