25 years for role in Mount Holly armed robbery

Taking part in a gunpoint robbery, and threatening the victim if he cooperated with investigators, lands a Bloods associate from Pemberton in prison for up to a quarter-century.

Tifani Young, Jr., 22, was sentenced in Burlington County Superior Court for his May 25 conviction on first-degree counts of robbery and witness tampering, and a second-degree conspiracy charge, according to County Prosecutor Scott A. Coffina.

He is the third Gotti Boy Movement operative to be convicted in connection with the robbery. Kavon Carter, 19, of Lumberton, and Tayron Brown, 20, of Edgewater Park, pleaded guilty May 2. Carter was sentenced to eight y ears in prison for weapons and drug charges. Brown was ordered to serve seven years for robbery and weapons possession.

The incident occurred in Mount Holly on May 7, 2015. Investigators alleged that Young was the wheel man for two other GBM memberst during the holdup of a gas station worker, as he walked home on Hulme Street after work.

Carter and Brown allegedly demanded the keys to the gas station's safe. Told that he had no access to it, they walked the victim to his house and tried to enter, but were chased off by family members, authorities said.

Carter and Brown were apprehended a short time afterward, and the weapon was recoverd, authorities said.

Prosecutors said that Young later threatened the robbery victim mutliple times, and in multiple ways, for working with detectives.

"Witness and victim intimidation strikes at the very core of the criminal justice system, and if it is not forcefully addressed, deters law-abiding individuals from coming forward with information to ensure that people committing violent crimes can be effectively prosecuted and removed from society," Coffina said in a prepared statement.

"This case demonstrates that our Office will prosecute cases of intimidation very aggressively and will take every reasonable step to reassure our residents that law enforcement in Burlington County will stand with them when they take the brave step of coming forward with information about criminal activity."

Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Angermeier presented the state's case. The robbery was investigated by members of the Prosecutor's Office under Detective Timothy Van Fossen of the Gun Violence Unit, Mount Holly and Pemberton police, New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.