Jamaine L. Cole of Englewood Faces Harsh Deal in Home Invasion that Threatened 5-Year Old
By Mary K.Miraglia
HACKENSACK, N.J. (April 24, 2017) — An Englewood man charged with seven counts of armed robbery and threats with a deadly weapon in Lodi flinched visibly today when a prosecutor offered him 15 years in state prison.
Jamaine L. Cole of 353 Webster Ave., 32, broke into an apartment in Lodi and threatened a mother, father, and their 5-year old son. According to a source close to the investigation, Cole pointed a handgun at the 5-year old’s head.
The 15-year offer came from Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello, who explained that since there were three separate offenses of threatening victims with a handgun, the defendant is subject to an “escalating plea policy.” Cole was in court today, April 24, for arraignment.
“That means if Mr. Cole doesn’t accept this offer by our next court date, the sentence recommendation I’m offering will go up,” Calviello said. “The plea will remain open until the initial court conference, June 5.”
Judge James J. Guida said under new court guidelines, a trial date for the case has already been established as Oct. 3, 2017. Calviello said he would be cooperating in the plea negotiation with Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Ronald McCormick of the Narcotics Unit, and that Cole must plead guilty to both indictments to strike a deal.
The offer is for a guilty plea to two first degree counts of threatening the victims with “immediate use of a deadly weapon” during the course of committing a theft.
Cole’s defense attorney, S. Emile Lisboa of the Bergen County Public Defender, entered a plea of not guilty on Cole’s behalf.
McCormick, who also attended the hearing, said he will have no trouble in making his plea contingent to Calviello’s. “We have had a couple of appearances on Cole’s drug charges already,” he said. He said the drug indictment carries an exposure of five years in state prison, “which will be concurrent (served at the same time) as the sentence Cole ultimately gets for the gun threats and armed robbery.
According to Calviello, of the Special Investigations Unit, Cole and two accomplices went to the Lodi address to rob a target they knew. But when they got there, they broke into the ground floor apartment when they were “supposed to hit the apartment upstairs.” The victims didn’t have the property Cole and company were expecting, which helped to escalate the violence of the situation.
The two accomplices who assisted Cole in the home invasion and robbery are still being sought by police, and their identities are unknown.
Cole is charged with two first degree counts of threatening immediate use of a deadly weapon to cause bodily injury, one count for threatening the father and another for threatening the mother and child; second degree conspiracy to commit armed robbery, breaking into a home at 222 Westminster Place, Lodi to commit an offense using a deadly weapon, possessing a handgun to use unlawfully against another person, and possessing a handgun with a permit; and third degree causing harm to a child, making the child abused.
Cole, the brother of Janay Cole, an associate of the James Bond burglary gang, will be back in court June 5.
Picture: Jamaine Cole of Englewood flinches when he hears a plea offer for 15 years
