FREEHOLD, N.J. — A Bergen County man has admitted to stalking two victims as part of a case connected to a violent 2017 home invasion in Holmdel, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office announced. Thomas F. Manzo, 59, pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth-degree stalking on Wednesday, October 23, in Monmouth County Superior Court.
The plea deal includes a three-year sentence in New Jersey State prison, which will run concurrently with a seven-year federal prison sentence Manzo is already serving for a 2015 violent assault in aid of racketeering involving one of the same victims.
The investigation began in May 2017, when Holmdel police responded to a 911 call from a townhouse on Banyan Boulevard, where two victims had been assaulted and restrained with zip-ties by intruders who stole an engagement ring and $500 in cash. The victims managed to free themselves and contact authorities. DNA evidence from the crime scene eventually led to the arrest of co-defendant James Mainello in May 2019.
Further investigation revealed Manzo’s involvement in stalking the victims between 2015 and 2019 and his awareness of the robbery and assault committed by Mainello and an unidentified accomplice.
Mainello pleaded guilty in May 2023 to one count of second-degree conspiracy to commit first-degree armed robbery, with a plea condition requiring Manzo to also plead guilty to his charges. Mainello faces up to seven years in state prison under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, which mandates that 85 percent of the sentence be served before parole eligibility.
Both Manzo and Mainello are scheduled to be sentenced on December 13, 2024, before Judge Joseph W. Oxley.
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