Prosecutor: Man Imprisoned for Violent Assault Gets Three More Years for Stalking Stemming from Home Invasion

An already imprisoned man is now facing three more years in prison in connection with a 2017 home invasion and stalking incidents in Holmdel, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Wednesday.

Thomas F. Manzo, 59, appearing during a hearing held Wednesday Oct. 23, before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley, pleaded guilty and provided a full factual basis to two counts of fourth-degree stalking for his repeated conduct in stalking two victims over a four-year time period between 2015 through 2019.

In exchange for his pleas of guilty, Manzo faces three years in state prison concurrent to a seven-year federal sentence he is currently serving for charges related to a 2015 violent assault stemming from the racketeering of one of the same victims.

The investigation into Manzo’s conduct began when Holmdel police were sent at approximately 10:54 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, 2017, to a townhouse on Banyan Boulevard as a result of a 911 call reporting a home-invasion robbery. Officers arrived on scene to find two victims who had freed themselves from zip-ties after having been assaulted multiple times with a baseball bat and robbed of the couple’s new engagement ring and $500 in cash.

Initial investigation and DNA evidence led to the arrest and charges against co-defendant James Mainello in May of 2019. The ongoing investigation ultimately uncovered Manzo’s role in stalking both victims and his awareness of the robbery and assault carried out by Mainello and another unidentified male.

Mainello previously pleaded guilty on May 12, 2023 to one count of second-degree conspiracy to commit first-degree armed robbery. A condition to Mainello’s plea was that Manzo also plead guilty to his charges.

Mainello will be facing a term of up to seven years in a state prison, subject to the conditions of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA), which mandates that 85 percent of the sentence be served prior to the possibility of parole.

Both Manzo and Mainello are scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, Dec. 13, before Judge Oxley.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office