The penalties for convictions on sex offenses are typically severe, as the case of a former volunteer firefighter in Mahwah and Ramsey makes clear. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after his conviction two years ago.
The 36-year-old is serving his sentence at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, but was in Superior Court in Hackensack on Monday to face charges that he's violating a protective order by making phone calls from prison to a woman and her 8-year-old daughter.
The man pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment back in 2009 after being accused of having sex with a girl for three years, from the time she was 12 years old until after she had turned 15.
He was accused of sexually abusing another underage girl as well.
The former Ramsey Department of Public Works employee is now accused of violating a protective order preventing him from contacting his fiancée and her daughter while he's in prison.
The order was apparently sought by the woman's former husband and father of the girl.
The former husband showed the court phone records indicating the man had made more than 600 calls to his former wife's home between May of last year and March of this year.
A Department of Corrections spokesperson said the agency has now blocked the phone number from the man's call list.
The prisoner reportedly said very little during the court hearing. He's scheduled to return for another hearing on August 20.
Source: NorthJersey.com, "Ex-Ramsey, Mahwah firefighter serving time for child sex back in court," Chris Harris, July 16, 2012