Man on Tricycle Who Shot at Tuckerton Police in 2019 Pleads Guilty
The Connecticut man who used a tricycle as a getaway mode of transportation after shooting at a Tuckerton Police Officer in November 2019, has pleaded guilty in court to attempted murder.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced Friday that Miguel Angel-Villegas, 31, of New Haven, CT, pled guilty to attempted murder and hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Villegas faces 15 years in prison for attempted murder and 5 years for hindering apprehension. Both sentences would run concurrently.
The series of incidents he'll be heading to prison for occurred on November 21, 2019, when a Tuckerton Police Officer performed a lawful motor vehicle stop where Villegas was the passenger.
Suddenly, during that stop, the vehicle sped away and collided with another vehicle.
That's when Villegas got out and starting shooting at the police officer.
He then fled on foot, and for a time on a tricycle, before leaving the state entirely.
Later that night, the United States Marshals Service and NYPD officers found him and placed him in handcuffs just outside of Penn Station in New York City.
Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit ran point on the investigation and found out that Angel-Villegas ordered his then-girlfriend, who was the driver of the vehicle, to provide the Tuckerton Police Officer with a fictitious name.
The reason being was that Villegas was a wanted man, for a parole violation in Connecticut.
He forced his girlfriend to hit the gas and speed away during the stop.
Villegas, who was indicted in February of 2020, has been inside the confines of the Ocean County Jail since his return to New Jersey.
Prosecutor Billhimer said that Chief Trial Attorney Michael Weatherstone and Assistant Prosecutor Victoria Veni handled the case on behalf of the State.
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