NJ woman desperate for nicotine steals cigs in armed robbery, cops say

🔴 Convenience store employee threatened by woman with a knife

🔴 Thief's primary target was cigarettes, officials say

🔴 Investigators also found a rock thrown through a window

BERKELEY — An Ocean County woman is charged with stealing cigarettes at knifepoint, prosecutors said.

Jessica Napolitano, 37, of Brick Township, is charged with robbery, burglary, criminal mischief, and weapons offenses.

According to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, she was arrested for incidents at two convenience stores in Bayville early Tuesday morning.

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Prosecutors said Napolitano first tried to steal cigarettes shortly after 4 a.m. from the Dollar General store on Atlantic City Boulevard.

She had thrown a rock through a window in an attempt to get inside but the attempt failed, officials said.

When that didn't work, Napolitano walked a quarter-mile down to the Corner Store on Ocean Gate Drive.

A cashier at the convenience store said to investigators the woman walked in around 4:20 a.m. and pulled out a knife, according to prosecutors.

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Napolitano demanded cigarettes plus money from the register and then ran away, officials said.

Napolitano was later arrested in Lakewood and taken to Ocean County Jail. According to jail records, she was still at the facility on Thursday.

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