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Nicholas M. Manuele (above, left) was freed after posting $100,000 bail while Jerome A. Ashby (right) remained held on that amount in the Bergen County Jail. Both are 18.
Ramsey police charged the pair wth two counts of robbery by force and criminal restraint with the risk of injury in connection with the Nov. 11 mugging of an 18-year-old Allendale man in a room at the Maple Shade MOtel.
Already charged in the robbery was Christopher Balcolm, also 18, who was released from the county jail on $100,000 bail after two weeks behind bars, and a 17-year-old boy.
“The actors planned on stealing marijuana from the victim,” Police Chief Bryan Gurney told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The victim told police he was in the room when he was assaulted — sending him to the hospital with facial cuts. Roughly $150 cash and other personal items were taken, he sad.
Gurney said his officers met with Upper Saddle River police at the motel and found Room 13 unoccupied after getting a call from one of the victim’s friends.
They contacted the motel owner, who told them that it had been rented by people known to police, and the caller, who returned to the scene, Gurney said.
The victim then responded to Ramsey police headquarters, he said.
Sgt. Craig Weber, Sgt. Richard Falotico and Officer Michael Thormann found marijuana and alcohol in plain view in the room and quickly identified Balcom and the juvenile.
Detectives Marc Shingelo and Adam Szelag then took both into custody, assisted by Mahwah police, the chief said. A deliquency complaint against the juvenile was forwarded to the Family Part of Superior Court in Hackensack.
A continuing investigation continued led to the other two arrests.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF
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