New Haven Man Charged in Linden Avenue Home Invasion

A New Haven man is facing charges that he broke into a Linden Avenue home last month and sexually assaulted the resident.

Marcelo Munoz-Cervantes, 29, of 341 Grand Avenue, Apartment #4, New Haven. He was charged with first-degree sexual assault, home invasion, first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and second-degree strangulation, according to Hamden Police spokesman Capt. Ronald Smith.

The incident happened on April 14 at about 4:30 a.m., Smith said, when the woman woke up to find a man, who police say was Munoz-Cervantes, lying atop her in her bed. The woman screamed for help while the man sexually assaulted her and tried to strangle her, Smith said.

While assaulting her, Munoz-Cervantes punched her several times in the face, choked her five times and threatened to kill her, Smith said, before covering her with a sheet as he left. The woman was seriously injured, with injuries to her back, neck and shoulder, as well as a displaced rib, he said. She was treated at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Munoz-Cervantes allegedly entered the house through an unlocked door, Smith said. 

Detectives William Onofrio and Brian Stewart investigated the incident and found that Munoz-Cervantes had worked for the woman's landlord as maintenance worker and was familiar with the house, Smith said. He was arrested at the Southington restaurant where he was currently employed, he said.

Hamden Police learned that Munoz-Cervantes is an illegal alien, Smith said, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on him.

He was held in lieu of $1 million bond and will be arraigned May 31 in Meriden Superior Court.