ShopRite Parking Lot Stabbing In Brick Draws Guilty Plea

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Seaside Heights man has pleaded guilty to stabbing a man in the ShopRite parking lot in 2021, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday.

Michael A. Stallworth, 35, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault before Superior Court Judge Lisa A. Puglisi in Ocean County Superior Court in Toms River on Monday, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Brick Township police were called to the ShopRite parking lot about 4 p.m. on July 26, 2021, and found a 44-year-old man who had been stabbed in the back, authorities said. The man was initially hospitalized in critical condition at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, but later was released from the hospital.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim knew Stallworth, who stabbed him after saying hello to the victim inside ShopRite a short time earlier. The victim identified Stallworth as his attacker.

The information from the victim was corroborated by investigators, through interviews with witnesses and security footage from the ShopRite, the affidavit said.

A warrant for Stallworth's arrest was issued July 26, 2021. He turned himself in on Aug. 29, 2021, and has been held at the Ocean County Jail since then.

He is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 24, and Billhimer said prosecutors will be seeking a sentence of seven years in prison, subject to the No Early Release Act, which requires serving 85 percent of the sentence before being considered for parole.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Shanon Chant-Berry is handling the case. The prosecutor's office's Major Crime and High Tech Crime and Victim Witness Advocacy units, Brick Township police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Lakewood police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Warrants Division assisted.

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