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Police searching for the girl after she’d been reported missing found her Sunday night in Allendale with Seti Tonge, 22, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Tonge was taken to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus before he was booked into the Bergen County Jail early Monday.
A judge soon after ordered him released pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Tonge is charged with sexual assault and child endangerment.
Musella thanked Allendale and Waldwick police for their assistance.
Statutory rape occurs in New Jersey when one of the partners is between 13 and 16 and the other is at least four years older.
Those adults who claim “she/he looked 18″ — or that the victim showed a fake ID — have no defense, under what is known as the standard of strict liability. An adult also can’t claim that he or she was seduced.
It doesn’t matter that the girl or boy consents. Anyone under the age of 16 is deemed incapable of consenting to sex, under the law.
SEE: It’s Still Rape
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ALSO SEE: A warehouse worker from Palisades Park was charged with statutory rape.
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