Did Pilot mugshot taint Cliffside Park sex assault cold case?

A judge in Hackensack said she will hold a special hearing to determine whether a decade-old rape case was tainted by a mugshot on CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Photo Credit: *Daily Voice Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia*

Jerry DeMarco

11/08/2015 6:46 p.m.

Authorities arrested Jose Augusto Masmela-Sarmiento was arrested on child sex abuse charges in March, 2012 after a local pediatrician contacted the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) to report that a girl had been touched inappropriately.

A story about the arrest was published, along with a mugshot, on the online news site.

A woman who saw the CLIFFVIEW PILOT story then contacted police and said he was the same man who sexually assaulted her in Cliffside Park while she was a teenager in May 2001.

STORY / PHOTO: Daily Voice Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia

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