Samuel Matias Cruz zip-tied patrons and employees of the commercial businesses he robbed, prosecutors say.
NEWARK -- Already serving a life sentence for murder in Puerto Rico, Samuel Matias Cruz Wednesday was given another sentence Wednesday for armed robberies he committed in the Trenton area.
Cruz, 36, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for four armed robberies by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in federal court. The sentence will be served concurrently with the life sentence, said his attorney Ada Nunez of Newark.
Samuel Matias Cruz in 2013. (Courtesy of N.J. State Police)Nunez said she wasn't familiar with the details of Cruz's case in Puerto Rico, but confirmed he was convicted of one count of murder last year in a jury trial in Superior Court.
He was sentenced to 135 years in prison for the murder, and will not be eligible for parole for at least 55 years, or until 2071, she said.
The Trenton-area robberies occurred between September 2012 and March 2013, court records show.
Along with others, Cruz, formerly of Trenton, robbed a gas station, a cash remittance business, a travel agency and a bar, authorities said in court documents.
2 charged in Ocean Grove armed robbery
In the robbery of the Sabor Latino bar on Dec. 10, 2012, Cruz and others, wearing masks and brandishing firearms, bounded into the bar, restrained patrons and employees with zip ties and robbed $12,000 in cash from the bar and $2,000 in cash and jewelry from the patrons, the criminal complaint says.
Cruz and an accomplice, Arturo DeLaCruz, also held up an attendant at the Sunoco gas station at the Woodrow Wilson Service Plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike 19 days later, also tying up the shift manager with zip ties at gunpoint. The complaint says they made off with $26,000 in cash.
DeLaCruz pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court in November, 2014 and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman in a statement credited agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office and the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office for the investigation leading to the sentencing. He also cited efforts in the case by the New Jersey State Police and the Trenton and Westhampton police departments.
Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.