A Philadelphia man is being sentenced to 19 years in state prison after his conviction in February on charges related to an armed robbery that occurred at an AT&T store in 2016, Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni announced on Wednesday.

The sentenced for Anthony Clark, 42, is subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA), requiring him to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release on parole.

He was convicted on charges of first degree Armed Robbery, third degree Criminal Restraint, second degree Possession of a Handgun for an Unlawful Purpose, second degree Theft of Movable Property and third degree Receiving Stolen Property.

Clark and four co-conspirators traveled from Philadelphia to Ocean Township on September 6, 2016, in a stolen motor vehicle and had intentions on robbing the AT&T store located on Route 35.

He posed as a customer, entering the store and sought out a store employee in the far corner of the store while pretending to be interested in purchasing a cellphone.

While this was going on, three of his co-conspirators entered the store and forced the two store employees into a back inventory room at gunpoint.

The store employees were forced to their knees and bound about their hands and feet with zip ties.

Clark was keeping watch in the front of the store while communicating with another co-conspirator who was parked across the highway.

He then proceeded to fill numerous laundry bags with store merchandise, which were eventually loaded into the stolen motor vehicle.

In total, Clark and his co-conspirators made off with over $130,000 worth of store merchandise.

The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Joshua D. Detzky and Keri-Leigh Schaefer.

Clark is represented by Allison Friedman, Esq. and Anthony Cherry, Esq., of Freehold.

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