Crime & Safety
You Again? Man Gets Parole, Robs Same Toms River Store That Got Him Jailed In 1999
In 2014, Christopher Miller went back to the Stride Ride a day after he was paroled for robbing it -- and the same clerk -- 15 years earlier
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Except, of course, when it comes to robbing a store one day after being paroled for robbing that same store 15 years earlier. Perhaps Christopher Miller has learned that lesson. He’ll certainly have time to think about it.
Miller, 41, originally of Bridgeton, pleaded guilty Monday before Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney to second-degree robbery in the March 22, 2014 robbery of the Stride Rite at 1358 Hooper Ave. in Toms River, said Al Della Fave, spokeman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
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Miller faces a mandatory extended prison sentence of 10 to 20 years, and Della Fave said the prosecutor’s office is recommending the maximum of 20 years in the crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 15, and under the No Early Release Act, Miller will be required to serve 85 percent of the sentence that is imposed. He is currently in the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, serving time for a parole violation for this crime, Della Fave said.
Miller was released on parole on March 21, 2014, after serving a 15-year jail term for the November 1999 armed robbery of the Stride Rite in Toms River, as well as two other armed robberies that occurred over a three-day period.
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On March 22, the day after he was released on parole, Miller walked into the same Stride Rite store in Toms River, and -- with the same clerk working as the day he robbed the Stride Rite in 1999 -- robbed it again, taking $389 and cell phones from the store’s employees. He then forced the employees into a back room at the store before he fled.
When Toms River police responded to the store, the clerk was able to immediately identify Miller as the robber, Della Fave said, adding the clerk had been notified of Miller’s parole release shortly before he was released.
Miller was arrested later that same day, and has been in the Ocean County Jail since.
Chief Trial Attorney Laura N. Pierro is responsible for the prosecution of Miller, Della Fave said.
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