Four men are facing serious charges after a months-long investigation into a violent home invasion at a Dumont residence, where an adult male victim was struck in the head with a knife and left with a laceration above his right eye. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office announced that investigators arrested the four men in connection with the break-in, and all were remanded to the Bergen County Jail.
According to NJ.com, multiple suspects forced their way into a private residence on the 9 Larch Road block in Dumont, where they struck the adult male victim in the head with a knife, leaving him with a laceration above his right eye. A second victim inside the home was threatened and had a knife pointed at them by one of the suspects, the outlet reports. The suspects then fled the scene in two vehicles that had arrived at the home early in the morning.
Dumont Police Department officers who responded to the scene identified the two getaway vehicles as being owned or operated by Christian I. Curatola and Brendan J. Hayes, both 31 and both of Bergenfield, the report states. Detectives later identified Andrew Baik of Cliffside Park and Kerby W. Santillan, 31, of Bergenfield as additional suspects as the case developed.
A Coordinated, Multi-Jurisdictional Operation
The investigation stretched over several months and drew in the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, Dumont Police Department, Bergenfield Police Department and Cliffside Park Police Department, the report notes. The prosecutor's office's Special Investigations Squad joined the case, and detectives ultimately carried out what the outlet describes as a coordinated, multi-jurisdictional operation to track down the suspects.
Curatola and Santillan were located at their respective residences in Bergenfield and arrested, while Baik was arrested at his home in Cliffside Park, per the same account. Hayes surrendered to authorities on September 29.
Charges and Court Proceedings
All four men were charged with first-degree home invasion burglary, second-degree aggravated assault, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, the outlet reports. They were scheduled for first appearances following their arrests.
Hayes was ordered released after being charged, while Baik, Curatola and Santillan remained held pending detention hearings in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, according to the report.
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella stated that the charges against the four men are merely accusations, and that the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The case was investigated under the direction of Jeff Angermeyer, chief of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, and Luke Totten, chief of the Dumont Police Department.
Home invasions have drawn repeated scrutiny from Bergen County authorities in recent years. The prosecutor's office announced charges against four individuals in a Lodi armed home invasion in a December 2025 release, and against three people in a Rochelle Park case detailed in a July 2026 release. Full details on what charges, if any, resulted from either of those earlier cases were not available.
