NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan and Warden Edwin Cicchi announced second-degree sexual assault charges against the county jail’s assistant director Derick Stevens on December 22.
Authorities say that Stevens, a resident of Burlington Township, had sex with a 21-year-old female inmate in the year in September or October of 2000.
They also say he attempted to bribe the woman not to talk to investigators about the incident on December 5, according to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger
Three days later, Stevens was suspended without pay from his position at the jail, where he earned $70, 291.
Kaplan said Stevens was a juvenile detention officer who had a supervisory role over the woman at the time of the incident, according to the article. Â Stevens, now age 39, was 28 years old when the incident allegedly occurred.
For his part, Stevens’ attorney Steven Altman told the Ledger the allegations were “absolutely untrue,” but said he needed time to review the woman’s complaint before he could respond further.
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
