In one case, Keith Cuff Jr.used zip ties to restrain two kids and two adults while he and a co-defendant stole $60,000 in cash.
CAMDEN -- A 29-year-old Atco man was sentenced to 98 years in prison Friday after he was convicted last month of committing a string of home invasion robberies in 2011.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said Keith V. Cuff Jr. was sentenced in Camden County Superior Court before Judge Kathleen Delaney following the Dec. 17 conviction in which a jury found him guilty of two counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of second-degree conspiracy, one count of second-degree burglary and weapons charges.
The charges stemmed from a spree of armed robberies that began in February of 2011 when Cuff and accomplice Jerome Thomas, 41, broke into a Cherry Hill home, tied up two teen girls with zip ties and waited until their parents got home, when they restrained them as well and held the family at gunpoint while the pair robbed the home.
The next month on March 3, Cuff and Thomas assaulted a Winslow Township man with a weapon at his home before robbing him of cash and stealing his vehicle.
The pair were stopped by Gloucester Township police later that month for unrelated reasons. Cuff fled, dropping two guns in the process, and Thomas was charged on crimes related to the stop.
He later made bail and the two struck again on April 3, when they invaded a Winslow Township home, tied up a man, his kids and his girlfriend with zip ties and stole $60,000 in cash from the home.
DNA and cellphone evidence helped authorities connected the two to the crimes. Thomas was caught by federal authorities in 2011 and is serving a 15-year sentence for robbery. Two other men who helped Cuff and Thomas commit the robberies by planning the crimes and driving the getaway vehicles. One, Donte Goree, 29 of Camden, was sentenced to 5 years for his role in the crimes and another, Abdul Musa-Mansaray, 33 of Sicklerville, will be senteneced on Feb. 19.
Cuff must serve at least 66.4 years of his 98-year term before becoming eligible for parole.
Michelle Caffrey may be reached at mcaffrey@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ShellyCaffrey. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.