Serial Armed Robber Who Hit Cherry Hill 7-Eleven Sentenced to 14 Years

James Paul Taormina spent two weeks last winter terrorizing convenience store clerks and bank tellers in an armed robbery that stretched across three counties in South Jersey.

He’ll spend the next 14 years in prison in return.

Taormina was sentenced Tuesday in Gloucester County on the last handful of charges against him, including a bank robbery in Washington Township and two convenience store robberies in West Deptford, which come on top of convictions in Camden and Burlington counties.

His other sentences—a total of 12 years in Camden County for a 7-Eleven robbery in Cherry Hill and two convenience store robberies in Gloucester Township, 13 years for a robbery in Burlington County and two separate, 7-year terms for the West Deptford robberies—will all be served concurrently with the 14-year bank robbery sentence imposed by Superior Court Judge Walter L. Marshall Jr.

Taormina, who was silent at his sentencing in Woodbury, had four previous adult convictions and a juvenile record, and Marshall cited those in handing down the sentence, which he called necessary for a “repeat offender who needs specific deterrence.”

The spree started with a Feb. 9, 2012, knifepoint robbery of a 7-Eleven in Gloucester Township, and ended 11 days later with the second of two robberies in West Deptford.

Dressed in what became a signature gray hoodie and a black baseball cap, Taormina threatened his victims with knives and, in at least one case, a hammer, though there weren’t any injuries reported in any of the incidents, according to police.

Occasionally, he would grab an item off the shelf or fill a cup of coffee, before threatening store clerks, grabbing what cash he could and taking off into the night.

In all, Taormina hit at least eight spots, including unsuccessful robberies in Glassboro and Washington Township, and police believed early on the robberies were the work of one man.

Four days after his last robbery, police from multiple towns finally caught up with Taormina when they arrested him at the Clover Motel on Route 73 in Maple Shade on Feb. 23, 2012, and initially charged him with the bank robbery.

A search warrant for his hotel room yielded enough to connect him to the Gloucester and West Deptford township robberies, police said, and Taormina was eventually charged with bank robbery, armed robbery, theft, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.