TRENTON – A Hamilton man was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of robbery and a weapons offense, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri reported.
According to officials, a Mercer County jury found Dwayne Penix, 40, of Hamilton, guilty of one count of first-degree robbery and one count of fourth-degree possession of an imitation firearm for an unlawful purpose.
On December 23, 2017, Penix robbed the Family Dollar on Greenwood Avenue in Hamilton Township.
While wearing a black mask and gray rain suit, Penix threatened the cashier with a silver object she thought to be a firearm, grabbed the entire cash register and fled the store.
Officials say about 12 minutes after the robbery, Penix’s vehicle was stopped and after executing a search warrant of Penix’s vehicle, Hamilton police located a gray rain jacket in the trunk matching the description of the rain jacket depicted on Family Dollar’s video surveillance system.
A block away from the Family Dollar, in the backyard of a vacant house, Hamilton police located a black mask on the ground next to Family Dollar’s cash register and the imitation firearm used in the robbery.
The black mask was submitted to New Jersey State Police Office of Forensic Sciences and testing revealed the mask to contain Penix’s DNA.
Penix is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17. He faces a state prison sentence of 10 to 20 years, subject to the No Early Release Act.
Assistant Prosecutors Scott Gershman and Michael Nardelli represented the state during the five-day trial before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene J. Pereksta. The defendant was represented by Mark Fury, Esq.