Hackensack Man Sentenced For String Of Hudson County Armed Robberies

Saturday, November 1, 2025, 7:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

UNION CITY, NJ.- On Tuesday, a 38-year-old Hackensack, New Jersey, man learned he will be spending over three decades in New Jersey State Prison, after being sentenced for a string of brazen gunpoint robberies that occurred in April of 2022, in Hudson County, New Jersey.

     According to Acting Hudson County Prosecutor Wayne Mello, on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, Joel Krecz, 38, of Hackensack, New Jersey, appeared in Hudson County Superior Court and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge John Young to 33 years in State Prison for his conviction on charges in connection with the gunpoint robberies of four local Hudson County Businesses. 

     In handing down the sentence, Judge Young ordered that the sentence be subject to the No Early Release Act for his convictions for crimes of violence and the New Jersey State Graves Act for his convictions on the weapons charges.

Krecz Was Convicted At Trial Back In October 2024

     On October 29, 2024, following a two-week trial in Hudson County Superior Court before Judge Young, a jury found Krecz guilty of four counts of Armed Robbery; five counts of Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose; five counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon; five counts of Theft; one count of Aggravated Assault; one count of Possession of Prohibited Weapons, Large Capacity Ammunition Magazine; and one count of Possession of Prohibited Weapons, Hollow Point Ammunition.

     The charges, conviction, and Tuesday’s sentence stem from four armed robberies that were reported between the late night hours of Friday, April 29, 2022, and into the early morning hours of Saturday, April 30, 2022. In each of the robberies, Krecz pulled out a handgun and demanded money from the clerks working at the businesses.

     A joint investigation by the Jersey City Police Department, the Union City Police Department, the Secaucus Police Department, the Hoboken Police Department, and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs Task Force quickly identified Krecz as the individual who committed the following: 

The Armed Robberies Occurred At The Following Locations

     The robbery of a liquor store on Summit Avenue in Union City, New Jersey, on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

     The robbery of a gas station on Route 3 in Secaucus, New Jersey, on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

     The robbery of a business on Paterson Plank Road in Union City, New Jersey, on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

     The robbery of a liquor store on Willow Avenue in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

     Krecz was apprehended three days later, on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Jersey City, New Jersey, while in possession of a loaded handgun, and has remained detained in the Hudson County Correctional Facility since his arrest.