Authorities in New Jersey say an 18-year-old man has been arrested in a violent home invasion in which the homeowner was slashed and pistol-whipped.
Julian Mangal, 18, of Richland Town, Pennsylvania has been arrested in the Ridgefield Park robbery on Dec. 18, prosecutors said Monday. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The homeowner, Frank Veritas, told News 4 New York he was startled awake in his Ridgefield Park home around 2:30 a.m. that Tuesday when he heard his wife screaming by his side.
"I woke up and see a man with a pistol, aiming it right at me," he said. The gunman, who Veritas recognized from a recent party at his home, was threatening to kill the 49-year-old Veritas.
The intruder was later identified as Mangal, who ran off with Veritas' wallet containing about $400 and a cellphone. Mangal was arrested at a South Hackensack motel. Another man who was apparently with him was arrested while trying to flee through a crawl space in one of the motel rooms, prosecutors said, and a third person was arrested for allegedly providing the gun to Mangal.
Veritas now has a staple in his skull and knife wounds to the chest.
