Louis Cataldo, the club owner who admitted shooting an employee outside the establishement in Brielle and forcing police into an eight-hour standoff at his Point Pleasant house can expect a 12-year prison term when he's sentenced July 17.

Louis Cataldo in Monmouth County Superior Court
Louis Cataldo in Monmouth County Superior Court (Thomas P. Costello, Asbury Park Press/Pool)
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In a Monmouth County courtroom Thursday, Cataldo, 64, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, weapons possession and resisting arrest, according to information from the office of acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Grammiccioni.

Jury selection for the onetime Essex County Sheriff's Office investigator's trial had been scheduled to begin this week, with a tentative trial date of June 8.

Under terms of his plea bargain, Cataldo will be required to serve 85 percent of the term under New Jersey's No Early Release Act (NERA), and undergo parole supervision for five years after release.

According to details filed in the case, it was shortly before 1 AM on June 18, 2013, that Cataldo walked the 36-year-old woman who served as his general manager at the Sand Bar from the club to her car, pulled a handgun from his own car parked along side, and fired several rounds at her.

Brielle police responded to several 911 calls and arrived at about 12:56 AM to find good Samaritans tending the woman. She underwent surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center for a gunshot wound in the back, and lung and eye injuries.

Officers traced Cataldo to his house, where they summoned the Ocean County Regional SWAT Team and began eight hours of negotiations to bring him outside.

When talks failed, SWAT team members stormed the home and undertook the arrest. At that point, Cataldo dashed to a bathroom, grabbed a handgun and fired a shot that hit no one, investigators said.

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