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FREEHOLD – A Long Branch man was sentenced to 30 years in a New Jersey state prison for the 2014 Aggravated Sexual Assault of a 7-year-old girl in Eatontown, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Edgar Mejia, 55, of Long Branch, was sentenced Thursday by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman, P.J.Cr., who presided over the month-long trial that resulted in his conviction by a Monmouth County jury on November 16, 2016. Mejia was convicted of first degree Aggravated Sexual Assault and third degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child. For the purposes of sentencing the conviction for Endangering the Welfare of a Child was merged in to the Aggravated Sexual Assault conviction.
The charges stem from a July 2014 incident in Eatontown and involved a 7-year-old female victim. The victim was alone in a bedroom with the defendant, when Mejia committed the aggravated sexual assault on her.
The same evening, the victim reported the incident to her mother and it was subsequently reported to the police. The investigation was conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Special Victims Bureau and Eatontown Police Department. As a result of the investigation, Mejia was arrested on July 21, 2014.
Mejia was sentenced pursuant to the provisions of the Jessica Lunsford Act. The Jessica Lunsford Act came in to effect on May 15, 2014 and requires that anyone convicted of an Aggravated Sexual Assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2a(1), receive a sentence of 25 years to life in a New Jersey state prison with a minimum of 25 years of parole ineligibility. This was the first sentence following a trial pursuant to the Jessica Lunsford Act in Monmouth County. Mejia was also sentenced subject to the No Early Release Act, which requires he serve 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Therefore, Mejia will have to serve a minimum of 25 years, 6 months and 2 days in prison before he is eligible for parole.
The defendant is also required to register pursuant to Megan’s Law and will be placed on Parole Supervision for Life upon his release from state prison.
The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Ellyn Rajfer. The defendant was represented by Ryan Moriarty, Esq. of Freehold.
