HUNTERDON COUNTY, NJ – A former New Jersey Department of Corrections Officer charged in February 2018 pleaded guilty this week to criminal sexual contact, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson announced.
Ronald Coleman, 43, of Bethlehem Township, PA, pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact before Hunterdon County Superior Court Judge Angela F. Borkowski on December 16. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Coleman forfeits his pension and position with the Department of Corrections and any future employment with the State of New Jersey. He will also have to undergo a psychosexual evaluation.
The guilty plea is a result of a joint investigation conducted by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit and Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division. Mr. Coleman was employed as a Senior Correction Officer at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Union Township when he touched the intimate body part of an inmate for his own sexual gratification while he had supervisory and disciplinary power over the inmate.
Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Daniels and Assistant Prosecutor Tina DiFranco represented the state. Coleman is scheduled to be sentenced on January 28, 2022.