Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that the Honorable Joseph Cassini, III, J.S.C., sentenced Anthony Massenburg, 41, of Henderson, N.C. to 60 years in state prison for breaking into an Irvington apartment, hogtying, torturing and sexually assaulting two women and attempting to murder his nephew.
On January 21, 2010, Massenburg, who is originally from East Orange, with three other men, broke into the victim’s apartment wearing masks. The men were looking for the victim’s boyfriend, the nephew of Massenburg, with whom they had a dispute. Massenburg and the other men used zip cords to hogtie the girlfriend, a 36-year old Irvington woman and her 31-year-old friend, who was visiting her in the boyfriend’s basement apartment.
Over a four hour period, Massenburg duct taped the women’s eyes and mouths, attempted to drown the girlfriend in her bathtub, sexually assaulted the two women, and used a plastic bag in an attempt to suffocate the friend until the girlfriend agreed to call her boyfriend. Upon his arrival, the boyfriend was hit in the head with a hammer, but managed to escape the apartment.
On December 15, 2011 an Essex County jury convicted Massenburg of 14 counts, including attempted murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, criminal restraint, terroristic threats, burglary and multiple weapons offenses.
During sentencing today, Judge Cassini found that Massenburg qualified as a persistent offender, having 24 arrests, five felony convictions in New Jersey and four felony convictions in North Carolina. Massenburg was sentenced under the No Early Release Act which requires that he serve 85 percent of the 60-year sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Eric Plant, who tried the case argued for the 60-year sentence, saying, “I can’t think of a more serious or egregious case committed with such malice. It certainly demands consecutive sentences on behalf of each victim.”
