PASSAIC, NJ – Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Passaic Police Chief Luis A. Guzman announce the arrest of a 20-year-old male for acts committed while he was a juvenile. The suspect was arrested on June 28, 2021, after an investigation conducted by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit in conjunction with the Passaic Police Department.
The suspect is charged with one count of first degree Aggravated Sexual Assault, two counts of second degree Sexual Assault, and two counts of third degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
On January 12, 2021, an employee of Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Clifton, New Jersey, contacted the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit to report that a thirteen-year-old child had been sexually abused in the past.
Prosecutor’s Office detectives and Passaic Police Department detectives were able to interview multiple witnesses, and it was determined that the suspect had sexually abused two children at two different residences in Passaic. The sentencing exposure on first-degree Aggravated Sexual Assault is four years in a juvenile facility; on second-degree Sexual Assault, it is three years in a juvenile facility; and on third-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child is two years in a juvenile facility. Police charged the 20-year-old male with two juvenile complaints. He was lodged in the Essex County Juvenile Detention Facility pending his first appearance in Passaic County Family Court.