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James W. Parrillo Jr., 57, was captured and has remained jailed ever since the woman escaped from a residence in Bass Township and fled to safety at a nearby gas station three months ago, ending a terrifying year in captivity.
Parillo originally was charged with first-degree kidnapping, criminal restraint, aggravated assault and strangulation, as well as hindering apprehension, obstruction and refusing to provide a DNA sample after his February arrest.
More serious charges were returned by a grand jury following additional investigating since then by New Jersey State Police with help from other law enforcement agencies, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced on Wednesday, May 17.
Investigators learned that Parrillo "sexually assaulted the woman on different occasions during the time she was with him and used threats of bodily injury to restrict her freedom," the attorney general said.
He also may have done the same thing to other women in other states, Platkin and State Police Supt. Colonel Patrick J. Callahan had previously said.
SEE: Abused Woman Held Captive By NJ Man During Year-Long Cross-Country Trip Escapes: Authorities
The victim met Parillo – whom she knew as “Brett Parker” – at a gas station on Interstate 10 in New Mexico sometime in February 2022, the attorney general said. At his request, she agreed to give him a ride to Arizona, he said.
A consensual relationship lasted about a month, the woman told investigators, before Parillo assaulted her in California. At that point she “felt unable to leave the relationship,” she said.
Parrillo took away her phone, she said, and also confiscated and utilized her debit cards while isolating her from her family.
The pair arrived in New Jersey sometime in December 2022 and had been in the rented room in Burlington County with other residents for roughly two weeks when she began planning her escape.
Parrillo had beaten and choked her during an argument, then let up when he realized they weren’t alone.
Seizing an opportunity, the woman “ran from the house with nothing on but shorts and a shirt in the 42-degree weather,” Platkin and Callahan said.
“Once inside the gas station, the woman bolted the door and told an attendant she had been kidnapped for approximately a year,” they said.
“Footage from the station’s security camera shows Parrillo following the woman to the gas station and attempting to open the door, then leaving when he found it locked,” Platkin and Callahan said.
An attendant at the station alerted New Jersey State Police, who seized Parrillo a short time later as he walked down County Road 542.
Parrillo has remained in the Burlington County Jail under court order since then.
Meanwhile, State Police have continued their investigation with help from, among others, the state Division of Criminal Justice Human Trafficking/Sexual Violence Unit and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Based on their work, the 11-count indictment handed up by a state grand jury adds charges of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, criminal coercion and extortion, Platkin said Wednesday.
“The addition of aggravated sexual assault charges escalates the very serious nature of this case and we will continue working to ensure the defendant is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for his alleged crimes,” New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Director Pearl Minato noted.
Assistant New Jersey Attorney General Theresa Hilton is prosecuting the case for the DCJ along with Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor and Special Deputy Attorney General Courtney O’Brien.
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