Three from N.J. charged in robbery scheme

Three men from South Jersey are to face federal charges of plotting to rob a drug stash house.

Jerome Thomas, 36 of Lindenwold; Malcolm Lewis Brown, 30, of Lawnside; and Jaffar A. Muhammad, 20, of Camden, were arrested late Wednesday in Maple Shade, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.

The trio had been under investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for about a month in connection with a series of violent home-invasion robberies in Camden and Burlington Counties this year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The men were arrested in a sting operation conducted by ATF, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and local law enforcement agencies. They were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, and Brown also was charged with a weapons violation.

— Allison Steele