February 14, 2008

GRAND JURY INDICTS THREE MEN FOR EWING HOME INVASION

Additional suspects remain unidentified 

TRENTON -- A Mercer County grand jury indicted three men on charges of kidnapping, carjacking, aggravated sexual assault, robbery and a host of other offenses related to a home invasion in Ewing Township last year, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. announced. 

The 39-count indictment was returned Wednesday and charges Timothy Martin, Vergil Howard and Michael Barnes AKA Murder Mike with carjacking (one count), kidnapping (one count), aggravated sexual assault (10 counts), robbery (two counts), aggravated assault (nine counts), burglary (three counts), theft by unlawful taking (two counts), terroristic threats (three counts) and weapons offenses (eight counts). 

The indictment alleges that Martin, Howard and Barnes were among a group of men who forced themselves into Martin’s grandmother’s house on Upland Avenue in Ewing on January 20, 2007.    Theresa Peterson was robbed and carjacked, and Martin’s step-grandfather, a wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran, was pistol-whipped and had detergent thrown into his eyes.  A second woman was sexually assaulted and beaten during the incident. 

Martin, 17, of Upland Avenue in Ewing, and Howard, 18, of Willingboro, are each being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $150,000 bail.  Barnes, 19, of Jersey Street in Trenton, is being held at the correction center on unrelated charges. 

Crime Stoppers of Greater Trenton continues to offer a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the individuals responsible for the home invasion.  Anyone with information should call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (609) 278-8477. 

Bocchini credited Detective Eric Hastings of the prosecutor’s Child Abuse/Sex Assault Unit and Detective Pat Holt of the Ewing Township Police Department with the investigation leading to today’s indictment. 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds. 

Despite having been indicted, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.