Man Gets 14 Years In Prison For Shooting At Cop

Miguel Angel Villegas (Photo courtesy Ocean County Jail)

  TUCKERTON – A Connecticut man who had shot at a Tuckerton police officer was sentenced to 14 years in New Jersey State Prison, the Ocean County Prosecutor announced.

  Miguel Angel-Villegas, 31, of New Haven, Connecticut, will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole under the No Early Release Act. He will also have five years of prison for a charge of Hindering, but those five years are being served at the same time.

  On November 21, 2019, a Tuckerton Police Officer pulled over a car in which Angel-Villegas was a passenger. The driver, his girlfriend at the time, complied with the officer and pulled over. Angel-Villegas then told her to give the cop a fictitious name and then forced her to speed away, striking another car.

  Police said Angel-Villegas came out of the car and fired at the officer. He fled on foot and was arrested later that day just outside of Penn Station, New York City, by the United States Marshals Service and members of the New York City Police Department.

  He has been in the Ocean County Jail ever since.

  Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer acknowledged the efforts of Chief Trial Attorney Michael Weatherstone and Assistant Prosecutor Victoria Veni who handled the case on behalf of the State, as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, United States Marshals Service, New York City Police Department, Tuckerton Borough Police Department, Little Egg Harbor Police Department, New Jersey State Police, New Jersey State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center, New Jersey State Police Aviation Unit, New Jersey Transit Police, Ocean County Regional SWAT Team, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, New Haven (Connecticut) Police, Port Authority Police, Tuckerton Fire Department, and Tuckerton Public Works Department, for their collaborative efforts in connection with this investigation, ultimately resulting in Angel-Villegas’ guilty pleas and lengthy state prison sentence.