Arrest made after 90-year-old NYC candy store owner brutally assaulted

NEW YORK - The NYPD has arrested and charged a man in connection with the brutal assault of a 90-year-old Manhattan candy store owner.

Luis Peroza, 39, was charged Friday night with assault in the attack right outside the store owner's shop.

39-year-old Luis Peroza is facing assault charges for allegedly beating 90-year-old Ray Alvarez outside of Alvarez's East Village Store. 

Ramon 'Ray' Alvarez was attacked Tuesday morning in the East Village. He said he was on the sidewalk in front of Ray's Candy Store around 3 a.m. when two men carrying cases of seltzer water walked up and tried to get him to buy them.

When he declined, Alvarez said one of the men threatened him and pulled out what appeared to be a belt with a rock attached to it and assaulted him in the face. He collapsed onto the ground and the men got away.

"I feel good," Alvarez said on Thursday afternoon, but admitted that he still can't chew food.

He's worried his jaw may be broken but when asked if he had gone to the doctor he said, "Nah."

FOX 5 News featured Alvarez in a report in November when his shop was having financial problems. Ray's Candy Store has been in the neighborhood since 1974.

A GoFundMe was set up to help him get on better financial footing.

Alvarez came from Iran in the 1960s and became a U.S. citizen.