Fairview mechanic charged with molesting girl 9 years ago

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Authorities have charged a Fairview mechanic with molesting a woman, now in her 20s, when she was a young teenager nine years ago. The arrest gave rise to what turned out to be false rumors in and around Fairview and Cliffside Park earlier today that the intruder who sexually abused two girls last month had been caught.

Photo Credit: *Courtesy Bergen County Prosecutor*

Jerry DeMarco

03/16/2012 8:24 p.m.

Jose Augusto Masmelasarmiento (MUGSHOT: Courtesy Bergen County Prosecutor)

Jose Augusto Masmelasarmiento, 46, is being held on $150,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of children.

Members of the Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli’s Special Victims Unit and Fairview police arrested the Colombian native, who lives on Park Avenue in Fairview, after the woman disclosed the alleged incidents to authorities, the prosecutor said this afternoon.

She told them she was between 13 and 14 at the time, he said.

Masmelasarmiento, who works in Hackensack, is due in Fairview Municipal Court on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the manhunt continues for the attacker who broke into a Cliffside Park home on Feb. 22 and sexually abused two girls — both under 12. A $2,500 reward is being offered for help finding him (SEE: Reward offered in attacks on Cliffside Park girls )

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