A man was arrested in Ridgewood over Thanksgiving weekend for allegedly committing a violent early morning robbery.
According to the criminal complaint, at 4:35 a.m. on Nov. 29, the 44-year-old male victim was sitting in his car parked on Linden Street near Seneca Avenue when Raymond Morales, 45, allegedly approached the victim, yanked open the car door and slashed the victim’s finger with a knife. Morales, who was wearing a black mask, allegedly demanded that the victim hand over his cellphone and wallet.
The victim complied, handing over two iPhones and his wallet, which contained cash. Morales then allegedly told the victim to get out of the car and when the victim complied, Morales got into the car, got rid of one of the iPhones and attempted to move the car out of its parking spot.
The victim used the discarded iPhone to call a family member for help and picked up a broomstick from outside of his home. Morales then allegedly got out of the victim’s car and went toward the victim with his knife in hand. When the victim demanded that he get his stuff back, Morales allegedly refused, causing the victim to try and retrieve it himself, leading to a physical dispute between the men.
The criminal complaint states that Morales allegedly got a hold of the broomstick and beat the victim with it, and also used the knife to stab the victim in his left leg.
An eyewitness to the alleged crime chased Morales and caught up with him on Seneca Avenue. Another witness arrived and the two men and the victim held Morales down until the police arrived. Morales’ masked allegedly fell off with he was being restrained, and one of the witnesses retrieved the victim’s cellphone and wallet.
When police arrived at the scene, they allegedly found a kitchen knife blade that was stained with what appeared to be blood under a car near Morales, his black mask and a pocket knife from Morales’ pants. The victim allegedly identified the knife blade as the weapon the Morales used to allegedly stab him. The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Morales was charged with two counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He is currently being held $100,000 bail.
