Prosecutor says couple drugged NJ toddler before raping her
A Bloomfield man was sentenced to serve 25 years in state prison after he admitted that he and a woman had drugged and raped a toddler in Long Branch two years ago, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni announced Friday evening.
Jaime Mauricio Leon, 34, previously pleaded guilty on April 17 to first-degree aggravated sexual assault and third-degree possession of child pornography.
Leon is required to serve the full term without possibility of parole, under the Jessica Lunsford Act, or "Jessica's Law," which toughened penalties for those convicted of sexually abusing children young than 13.
Upon release, Leon will be required to register under Megan’s Law and will be on parole supervision for life.
He was arrested at a Fort Lee job site on June 23, 2017, a week after a witness told police that he had seen a man and a woman sexually abusing a toddler who appeared to be sleeping, as the witness looked through a window of a home in Long Branch.
Police later confirmed the female child had been given sleeping medication to help the suspects carry out the assault, according to Gramiccioni.
After the incidents June 15 and 16, 2017, Olga Diaz was arrested on June 17, the day the assault was reported to police.
Final charges against her still are pending. She previously was charged with counts that included aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment.
Diaz remains held in Monmouth County jail, according to the Sheriff's inmate records.
The child was known to Diaz. Authorities and New Jersey 101.5 do not publicly identify child victims of sexual abuse.
During his plea, Leon admitted that he and his codefendant planned the attack on the child via text message. He also said he had been sent sexually explicit images and a video of the child the day before the assault.
The text messages, images and video were recovered from both suspect's phones, police said.
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