FREEHOLD, NJ — Two North Jersey men have been sentenced to state prison for their roles in a 2017 armed home invasion and years-long stalking of a Holmdel couple, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Friday.
Thomas F. Manzo, 59, of Franklin Lakes, and James J. Mainello, 57, of Bayonne, were sentenced on January 8, 2025, by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley.
Manzo pleaded guilty on October 23, 2024, to two counts of fourth-degree stalking, admitting to repeatedly harassing two victims between 2015 and 2019. He received the maximum sentence of 18 months in state prison for each count, to run concurrently with a seven-year federal sentence he is already serving for a 2015 racketeering-related assault on one of the same victims.
Mainello pleaded guilty on May 12, 2023, to second-degree conspiracy to commit first-degree armed robbery for his role in the violent home invasion. He was sentenced to seven years in state prison under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA), requiring him to serve 85% of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
The case stems from a May 13, 2017, home invasion at a townhouse on Banyan Boulevard in Holmdel. Police responded to a late-night 911 call and found two victims who had freed themselves from zip ties after being beaten with a baseball bat and robbed of an engagement ring and $500 in cash.
DNA evidence led to Mainello’s arrest in May 2019, and further investigation revealed Manzo’s involvement in stalking the victims and his knowledge of the planned robbery and assault carried out by Mainello and another unidentified individual.