Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said a man pleaded guilty today to a charge of aggravated assault, admitting he beat a 30-year-old woman with a section of pipe.
Mickey Vanderpool, 61, of Elizabeth pleaded guilty to a second-degree count of aggravated assault for attacking the woman sometime in June 2016.
Under a plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Allysa Gambarella, the defendant will be sentenced to serve eight years in a New Jersey state prison with no chance for parole until he completes 85 percent of the term.
The sentence is scheduled to be imposed in New Brunswick on June 23, 2017 by Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas.
Vanderpool was charged during an investigation by Detective Joseph Kenney of the Edison Police Department, and Sgt. Wayne Canastra and Detective George Stilwell, both of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
During the investigation it was determined that Vanderpool met the woman in Newark, repeatedly struck her on her head with a pipe and left her for dead at Raritan Center in Edison.
After a day or more, the woman wandered around the industrial complex before she saw a utility worker and asked for help. Police were called to the scene.
The woman was taken to JFK Medical Center in Edison, where she was treated and released.