Inmate placed in Monmouth County jail infirmary over Ebola concern

An inmate in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution is being held in the facility's infirmary after it was learned he recently returned from West Africa.

NJ Advance Media reports that the Marlboro resident returned to the United States on Oct. 21 after attending his mother's funeral. He was arrested Tuesday on charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and other related charges.

Jail officials placed the suspect in the infirmary as a precaution after he was booked this past Tuesday. "It is a jail, and people are obviously kept in close quarters. So he is being kept in the infirmary as a precaution," his lawyer, Donald Lomurro, told NJ.com.

The 50-year-old is "asymptomatic" according to Cythia Scott, a spokesman for the Ocean County Sheriff's Department. The defendant made his first court appearance on Friday via video.

The defendant is accused of having intimate relations with a 14-year-old girl numerous times over the past six years and with having sexual relations with 15-year-old girl in 2008. Authorities say both incidents occurred in his home.

New York and New Jersey have imposed mandatory, blanket quarantines of 21 days for health care workers returning from the disease's hotspots and travelers who have had contact with Ebola victims.

The West African nations have been hardest hit by Ebola. Anyone who traveled there within the last three weeks can be interviewed and asked about their histories, including whether they cared directly for Ebola patients. Officials would determine the person's exposure risk and decide what quarantine measures are appropriate.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The charges against the suspect in this article were eventually dismissed and expunged by a Superior Court. We have removed references to his identity in the original article. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report