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Man convicted of robbery, kidnapping at store; linked to crime by DNA

Police identified an Edison man as one of two robbers who held-up a Linden shoe store and tied up two women employees.

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Melvin Fitzgerald was convicted of robbery in which two men held-up a Linden shoe store and tied up two women employees. (Linden Police Department photo) 

ELIZABETH -- A man arrested for 2012 shoe store robbery based on DNA found on glove left in at the store was convicted Thursday of robbery and kidnapping.

Mervin Fitzgerald, 51, of Edison, of convicted of second-degree robbery and first-degree kidnapping for the Dec. 31, 2012, robbery in a Linden shoe store, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said in a statement.

The two men entered the Payless shoe store on Routes 1&9 about 7:40 p.m. and herded two then 18-year-old woman employees into a back room, where they were forced at gunpoint to lay down on the floor, Park said. 

The women were bound together by their hands and legs with zip ties, authorities said.

Then the two men stole approximately $200 in cash, and fled, said Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Dillon, who tried the case.

About 20 minutes later a customer who entered the store, found the women and freed them, then called 911, authorities said.

Linden police, led by Detective Eddie Adams and Detective David Kother, identified Fitzgerald as a suspect, based in part on DNA evidence.

Officers found a glove that one robber left behind and sent it, and some other items, to the Union County Crime Lab in Westfield.

Based on the lab tests, along with eyewitness accounts, police arrested Fitzgerald more than a year after the robbery, in April 2014.

Adams is now retired from the police department.

Authorities said the second suspect in the robbery is still at large.

Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield scheduled Fitzgerald's sentencing for May 12.

The kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.


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