William Alvarado Jr., 42, Charged After Masked Robbery At McDonald’s

William Alvarado Jr., 42, of West Berlin was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree robbery after authorities say a masked man entered a McDonald’s on the 200 block of Route 73 just before 6:40 a.m., demanded U.S. currency and fled on foot, Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay and Berlin Township Police Chief Michael FitzGibbon said. The prosecutor’s office said the defendant kept his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, which led employees to believe he was armed with a firearm.

Berlin Township police responded at approximately 6:39 a.m. after the report of a robbery, according to the prosecutor’s office statement. Investigators from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the Berlin Township Police Department used surveillance video from multiple locations to track Alvarado from the restaurant to his vehicle and ultimately to his residence in West Berlin, where he was taken into custody and charged.

Officials say no firearm was displayed during the incident and no injuries were reported. Employees gave an unspecified amount of U.S. currency to the masked suspect before he left on foot, the prosecutor’s office said. The precise amount of cash taken has not been released by investigators.

One outlet identified the McDonald’s as 270 Route 93, a detail that conflicts with the Camden County and Berlin Township descriptions of the location as the 200 block of Route 73. The prosecutor’s office and Berlin Township Police Department descriptions are the primary location details used in the criminal filing and investigative summary.

Alvarado was remanded to the Camden County Correctional Facility and is being held pending a future Superior Court hearing. The filing of a criminal charge is not proof of guilt, a standard legal caution that accompanies the charging information released by prosecutors.

Police activity in the area prompted the Berlin Township School District to cancel classes Friday, officials said. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective Michael Manning, Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, at 856-365-3246, or Detective Lieutenant David Childs, Berlin Township Police Department, at 856-767-5878, ext. 214. Tips also may be submitted to CAMDEN.TIPS.

Investigators have so far focused on the single suspect identified as William Alvarado Jr.; no additional suspects have been named in the charging documents released by the prosecutor’s office. The case remains pending while prosecutors prepare for the upcoming Superior Court proceedings.