Police blotter
The following items are based on information from police, unless otherwise noted:
TRENTON
City Men Punished for Suburban Robberies: John Gaines, 26, and Righteous Laster, 23, are both serving time in state prison for their roles in a series of armed robberies in Lawrence Township. Both men were accused of holding up residents with guns and knives at the Avalon Apartment Complex in 2015. Gaines was indicted on numerous offenses but ended up pleading guilty to two separate counts of first-degree armed robbery. Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Bingham II sentenced Gaines to 14 years of state incarceration on Nov. 2. He has a prior
conviction for unlawful possession of a handgun and was already serving time in the Trenton-based New Jersey State Prison for his prior transgressions, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Gaines brutally attacked an inmate on Nov. 15, 2015, when he was jailed at the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell Township, forcing officials to transfer him from the jailhouse to the big house. Gaines pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault for the vicious jailhouse attack and was sentenced to five years of state incarceration to be served concurrent to his 14-year prison sentence in the robbery case. He must serve 85 percent of his 14-year prison sentence behind bars before he can become eligible for parole and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision upon release from state prison. Laster was indicted on numerous offenses but pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree accomplice liability robbery and was sentenced to five years of state incarceration Nov. 2 in the Lawrence Township robbery case. Laster has prior convictions for resisting arrest, possessing drugs and being in unlawful possession of a handgun. He has been locked up in state prison since September 2015 for his prior criminal activity. Laster is currently housed at Northern State Prison and will become eligible for parole in February 2020, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Laster received 1,166 days of jail credit for being locked up from Aug. 24, 2015, through Nov. 1, 2018, and Gaines received 1,124 days of jail credit for being locked up from Oct. 5, 2015, through Nov. 1, 2018, according to their judgments of conviction. A grand jury in 2016 indicted both Gaines and Laster in connection with the Lawrence Township robberies that occurred on Aug. 12, 2015, Sept. 9, 2015, and Sept. 14, 2015, according to court records. Gaines was represented by public defender Kathleen Redpath-Perez, and Laster was represented by private defense attorney Michael R. Rosas.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
Child Molester Convicted: Shawn Butler, 52, of Hillsborough, on was found guilty Friday of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact. The jury was firmly convinced that Butler improperly touched a 15-year-old girl in South Brunswick and at his home in Hillsborough on a number of occasions between March 2014 and June 2014. Butler once worked as a youth minister at the Eternal Life Christian Center in the Somerset section of Franklin Township and also served on the church’s executive board, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey. Butler is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2019, by Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Paone. He faces up to five years in state prison. As part of the sentence, the convicted sex offender will be subjected to Megan’s Law and will be placed on parole supervision for life upon his release from prison.