Tinton Falls Man Sentenced to 19 Years for Retaliating Against Special Needs Man

A Tinton Falls man has been sentenced to an aggregate 19 years in state prison following his October conviction for retaliating against a 63-year old man with special needs, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.

Luis Vializ, 49, stole the special needs man's bike in September of 2018 and when he saw the man again about a month later he struck the man's bike with a hammer and threatened to do the same thing to him.

Upon a motion by the State, Superior Court Judge Vincent Falcetano found Vializ to be a statutory persistent offender and ordered Vializ to be sentenced to an extended first degree term of imprisonment.

Vializ was convicted by a Monmouth County Jury on October 25, 2019, after a three-day trial before Judge Falcetano.

The jury found Vializ guilty of second degree Witness Retaliation, third degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, fourth degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, and fourth degree Receiving Stolen Property.

Vializ was sentenced to fifteen years in state prison for the second degree Witness Retaliation charge, and a consecutive four year term in state prison for the merged weapons offenses.

He was also sentenced to a concurrent eighteen months in state prison for the fourth degree Receiving Stolen Property charge.

Vializ was found in possession of a stolen bicycle in Neptune Township on September 19, 2018, and following his arrest was informed the victim of the bike theft was a 63-year-old individual with special needs.

Nearly a month later, on October 11, 2018, Vializ observed that same victim inside of an establishment in the Jumping Brook Plaza in Tinton Falls, where the bike was secured outside the stores.

Upon seeing both the bike and the victim, Vializ used a hammer to repeatedly strike the bike and threatened to strike the special needs victim, in an act of retaliation.

The charges in this case were the result of a joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Neptune Township Police Department.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutors Caitlin Sidley and Amanda Dalton Clark.

Vializ is represented by John M. Murphy, III, Esq., of Farmingdale.