2nd Man Arrested In Taxi Carjacking In Howell, Police Say

HOWELL, NJ — A second Monmouth County man has been arrested in Georgia in an attack on a taxi driver whose face was slashed and car stolen in Howell in January, Howell police said.

Baldemar Sandoval-Herrera, 20, of Asbury Park, was arrested Friday in Georgia, Howell police said. He has been charged with carjacking, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, police said Tuesday.

The taxi driver, a 46-year-old man from Asbury Park, was attacked shortly after 11 p.m. on Jan. 16, police have said. The driver, who works for an Asbury Park-based taxi company, picked up two men in Neptune and drove them to a parking lot on Preventorium Road across from Oak Glen Park, police said.

When they arrived at the parking lot, one of the men slashed the driver across the face with a knife, police said. The victim ran away toward Old Tavern Road and was found bleeding from his face by a police officer on patrol.

The two men took off with the taxi and abandoned it on Maxim Road, police said.

The taxi driver was hospitalized for more than two weeks as a result of the slashing. Police did not provide an update on his condition Tuesday.

Authorities had been searching for Sandoval-Herrera since the attack, Howell police said, in conjunction with the FBI Task Force, and continued to search after the arrest of another Asbury Park man in February.

Melvin J. Cruz-Salmoran, 19, of Asbury Park, was arrested Feb. 3 and charged with carjacking, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He remains in the Monmouth County jail, awaiting further court action.

Police did not provide details on where Sandoval-Herrera was arrested in Georgia. He is being held in a county jail there pending extradition to New Jersey, police said. A date for the extradition hearing was not immediately available.