81°
Darius J. Brown (NJDOC photo)
Darius J. Brown is being held on $320,000 bail charged with being a major pot dealer while also selling heroin, police said.
In the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Brown was sexually involved with the young teen, Detective Lt. Brian DePasquale told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Brown, who is single, spent five years of a seven-year maximum prison sentence on a host of convictions — including drug dealing and resisting arrest — before being paroled in December 2009. This time around, he is charged with sexual assault, child endangerment and various drug counts.
Convictions in either or both cases this time could put Brown away for an extended stretch, given the severity of the charges and his criminal record.
Nothing in New Jersey law can be more definitive than what constitutes statutory rape, which occurs when one of the partners is between 13 and 16 and the other is at least four years older.
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. Anyone under 13 is the victim of aggravated sexual assault.
Those adults who claim “she/he looked 18″ — or said 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.
If convicted, an adult faces up to 10 years in prison if the youngster was between 13 and 16. Penalties are much more severe if the child is younger than that.
The convicted adults also must register as Megan’s Law offenders, with lifetime parole.
On top of that, defendants in statutory rape cases can be sued in civil court for personal injury.
{loadposition log}
Click here to follow Daily Voice Saddle Brook-Elmwood Park and receive free news updates.
