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Superior Court Judge James J. Guida told 44-year-old John Minervini that the teen he sexually assaulted suffered “the loss of her carefree high school years.”
Her family as a whole may never fully recover from the emotional trauma they’ve endured, the judge said.
Following a bench trial, Guida convicted Minervini in October of two separate and distinct incidents of sexual assault, “at least two weeks apart, at separate times and in separate places.”
John Minervini (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
The judge placed him on house arrest with a monitoring bracelet as Minervini awaited sentencing. But an angry Guida sent him to jail in January when Minervini showed up 2½ hours late for the hearing.
After waiting nearly three hours, members of the victim’s family were told they’d have to return. They didn’t come today, however — for their own well-being, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Kristin DeMarco said.
“There are no words left to be said,” she added.
Indeed, Minervini didn’t speak during today’s sentencing, and expressed little to no emotion.
As part of his sentence, he is subject to Megan’s Law supervision for life, as well as Nicole’s Law, which bars him from contacting the victim or her family. The judge said he’ll have to serve his time in prison because he was found ineligible for the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel based on a lack of repetitive and compulsive behavior.
Minervini was arrested by North Arlington Police and members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit nearly two years ago, after the girl’s family contacted police.
He was married and working at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington at the time.
The girl didn’t report the assaults when they originally happened, DeMarco said, because she was afraid of the consequences for her family.
“Her fears all came to pass,” she said, citing the strain last fall’s trial put on girl, now a high-school senior.
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