Man Convicted for Robbing Elizabeth Woman at Gunpoint: Prosecutor

A 30-year-old East Orange man was found guilty this week for robbing a woman at gunpoint in Elizabeth last year.

After a two week trial and two days of jury deliberation, Diken Michelle was convicted of:

• first-degree robbery
• two second-degree gun offenses
• third-degree theft
• fourth-degree possession of a large-capacity

Sentencing is scheduled for December 4, 2015, at which time Michelle will face an extended term of imprisonment due to prior convictions on unrelated indictable offenses.

The Incident according to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office:

On January 26, 2014, the victim parked her car on the 100 block of Bayway Avenue in Elizabeth.

While gathering her belongings in her vehicle, a man later identified as Michelle approached the vehicle, brandished a handgun, and demanded her personal effects.

The woman handed over items including:

• her purse
• cell phone
• makeup case
• a duffel bag
  
• her car keys

Michelle then fled the scene.

A bystander who witnessed the crime then approached the victim and immediately called 911.

Responding Elizabeth Police Department patrol units used the “Find my iPhone” app to trace the victim’s cell phone to a location on the 300 block of South Front Street in Elizabeth, where they found Michelle and arrested him shortly thereafter.

The victim subsequently identified Michelle as the person responsible for the robbery, and her personal belongings were recovered from the defendant’s nearby parked vehicle.

The next day, a handgun matching the description of that used in the robbery was recovered in a snowbank not far from where Michelle and his vehicle were found.