Woman Who Robbed Store Clerk At Knifepoint For Cigarettes, Cash Sentenced In Ocean County

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Brick Township woman is set to serve five years in prison for robbing a store clerk in Berkeley Township at knifepoint, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Jessica A. Napolitano, 38, was sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer on the robbery charge along with a burglary charge. Napolitano pleaded guilty to both charges on Aug. 4 before Palmer.

The robbery sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act, meaning Napolitano must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before she becomes eligible for release. Palmer sentenced her to three years on the burglary charge; the sentences will run concurrently.

Authorities said Napolitano went into The Corner Store, a convenience store on Ocean Gate Drive in Berkeley Township, about 4:20 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2024, brandished a knife at the cashier and demanded money and cigarettes. The staff gave the woman cash and cigarettes and she took off, authorities said.

As Berkeley Township police and authorities continued to investigate, they learned a woman had thrown a rock through the front window of the Dollar General on Route 9 and had tried to get access to cigarettes in the store, but was not able to get to them, authorities said. That's when she went to The Corner Store, authorities said.

Officers were able to identify Napolitano as the person responsible for both incidents and arrested her in Lakewood, authorities said.

She was initially held in the matter in the Ocean County Jail and subsequently released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform.

She is currently being held in the Ocean County Jail on an unrelated matter, the prosecutor's office said.