A 39-year-old Cumberland man is charged in connection with an attempted strong-armed robbery reported Monday night at Vito’s Italian Restaurant in Cumberland that left the owner badly beaten.

George Anthony Trent, of Lake Road, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Farmville, according to Cumberland Sheriff Darrell Hodges. Trent is charged with malicious wounding and attempted robbery.

According to arrest warrants, Trent attempted to rob the victim of over $8,000.

Deputies responded to the call at 11:31 p.m.

“Apparently when the business was closing the owner was coming out the back and the subject, (who had) kind of like a mask on, ran up to him and struck him and told him to give him the money and there was a weapon involved,” Hodges said.

Once the owner realized there was no weapon, “a fight broke out between the two of them, and after a few blows back and forth, the accused took off running.”

Police in Farmville helped locate Trent, Hodges said.

Trent is being held without bond at Piedmont Regional Jail.

“He took a good lick to the face,” Hodges said of the owner’s injuries. “I think it was a two-by-four he was hit upside the head with. He was swollen the next day pretty good, but nothing life-threatening.”