NORTH BERGEN MAN SENTENCED TO 35 YEARS IN PRISON FOR 2021 FATAL STABBING AT BERGEN TOWN CENTER MALL

A North Bergen man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the 2021 stabbing of Omar Cruz at the Bergen Town Center mall in Maywood, New Jersey.

Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced that Augusto Perez received the sentence in Bergen County Superior Court on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

The stabbing occurred on February 16, 2021, behind the Ulta Beauty store at the Bergen Town Center mall, where Perez fatally wounded Cruz.

An investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, along with the Maywood and Paramus police departments, led to Perez’s arrest at his North Bergen residence the next day.

Following a six-week trial, a jury found Perez guilty of aggravated manslaughter and hindering his own arrest by attempting to conceal blood evidence connecting him to the crime.

Judge Susan J. Steele presided over the trial in Bergen County Superior Court, where Perez was sentenced to 35 years in New Jersey State Prison on October 16, 2024.