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ICE has placed a detainer on Fokam Ngongang Parfait, a former Montclair High School football star who's accused in a series of sexual assaults at hotels in Saddle Brook and Secaucus.
The 25-year-old repeat offender has been held in the Bergen County Jail since his arrest by detectives from the county prosecutor's office on March 31.
Parfait was initially charged with kidnapping, raping and robbing a victim at gunpoint in Saddle Brook on March 24.
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said investigators from his Special Victims Unit and Saddle Brook police then charged Parfait with sexually assaulting two other victims while armed in the township.
SEE: Gunpoint Rapist Robbed, Kidnapped One Of His Saddle Brook Victims: Prosecutor
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced on Wednesday, April 26, that her office had recently charged Parfait with a sexual assault of a 28-year-old victim at a Secaucus hotel last September -- bringing the overall total of alleged North Jersey victims to four.
SEE: Jailed Serial Sex Assault Defendant Also Charged In Hudson Hotel Incident
Parfait – who played safety and linebacker at Montclair High School and Monroe College in New Rochelle, NY -- was known to police, having been arrested numerous times the past few years in more than a half-dozen jurisdictions, records show.
Parfait made headlines two years ago when police in Tewksbury who rescued him from the floodwaters of Hurricane Ida discovered that he had a pair of outstanding warrants, one of them for aggravated assault.
Immigration agents recently added a new twist to the story when they requested a hold on Parfait.
The reason for the detainer wasn't immediately clear. Parfait is listed in both Bergen and Essex county jail records as a US-born legal resident.
Such detainers are sought whenever immigrants suspected of living here illegally are jailed. Hearings are then held in federal court in Newark to determine whether the defendant should be deported.
If a local judge orders Parfait's release for some reason -- say, bail reform -- ICE has requested 48-hour notice so federal authorities can take custody.
Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton has honored detainer requests for defendants who've been charged with or convicted of felonies.
Parfait was expected to remain held, anyway, given the severity of the charges, his extensive criminal history and the possibility, authorities say, that there might be other victims who haven't yet come forward.
ANYONE who may have been or knows someone who may be a victim is asked to contact the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Tip Line: (201) 226-5532.
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