TOMS RIVER, N.J. – An illegal alien who fled the state after violently attacking a woman during the summer of 2022 will spend the next decade behind bars following his sentencing in Ocean County Superior Court.
Judge Dina M. Vicari handed down a ten-year state prison sentence to Juan Santiago-Rojas, 31, of Point Pleasant Borough, on Thursday for attempted murder stemming from a brutal assault that left a woman unconscious inside her home more than three years ago. Under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, Santiago-Rojas must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Rojas has two immigration detainers lodged against him by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Authorities said the assault occurred on August 22, 2022, when Point Pleasant Borough police responded to a Butler Avenue residence for reports of an unconscious female.
The woman, suffering severe head and neck injuries, was rushed to Hackensack Meridian Ocean Medical Center in Brick Township before being transferred to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. She survived the attack after extensive treatment and was later released.
Investigators from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and Major Crime Unit, along with local police and the county’s Crime Scene Investigation Unit, determined that Santiago-Rojas had assaulted and strangled the victim until she lost consciousness. He was charged with aggravated assault the next day, but fled before he could be arrested. His name was entered into the National Crime Information Center database as a fugitive.
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After more than a year on the run, Santiago-Rojas was captured in Wilmington, North Carolina, on December 8, 2023. He was extradited to New Jersey the following month and held in the Ocean County Jail.
Prosecutors later upgraded the charges to attempted murder following additional investigation. Santiago-Rojas pleaded guilty in August and has remained in custody since his extradition.
Justice finally caught up to Santiago-Rojas — three years and 500 miles from where it began.