Camden Man Pleads Guilty in 2013 Armed Robberies

A Camden teenager has pleaded guilty in a pair of 2013 armed robberies, Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo said on Friday.

Raekwon Simmons, 19, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree armed robbery. He faces a recommended sentence of 18 years in state prison.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 28. He will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Simmons and 25-year-old Camden resident Shamar T. Lee are accused of carrying out gunpoint robberies at the Xpress Market on the 2500 block of Woodlynne Avenue in Woodlynne on Nov. 14, 2013, and Jordan Communications Plus on the 500 block of North 5th Street in Camden on Nov. 27, 2013.

Lee is also charged in connection with eight other robberies at convenience stores and markets as well as for holding up people on the street throughout November 2013.

Many of the incidents took place in the area near Mount Ephraim Avenue, Ferry Avenue and Woodlynne Avenue, where Woodlynne, Collingswood and an enclave of Haddon Township share borders with Camden.

Those charges involve an incident at the Mucha Luna Grocery on 3000 block of Mount Ephraim Avenue in Haddon Township on Nov. 19, 2013 in which he allegedly held employees in the bathroom at gunpoint during a robbery.

He is also accused of attempting to sexually assault a female clerk in the bathroom at Lilly’s Market on the 2000 block of Woodlynne Avenue in Woodlynne on Nov. 24, 2013.

Charges against Lee are still pending.