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A now-former case worker with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families admitted groping women he was investigating, sending unwanted masturbation pics and threatening to have children taken from those who didn’t go out with him, authorities said on Friday.
Gilberto Ortiz Jr., a 53-year-old bilingual family services specialist, told a mom he was investigating that he’d “help her” if she had a relationship with him, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Ortiz warned the woman during a home visit that she was involved in “a serious case of negligence," the attorney general said.
He then groped her breasts and genital area against her will and pushed her hand against his crotch, Platkin said.
Ortiz later “sent her texts including a video of himself masturbating and sexually explicit photos of himself,” the attorney general said.
That wasn’t all.
Investigators from his Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) who got the case from the DCF found more victims, Platkin said.
Ortiz had pursued an unwanted romantic relationship with both another subject of a DCF investigation as well as her sister, inappropriately touching both and trying to kiss them, the attorney general said.
Investigators found another woman whom Ortiz began calling and texting, asking her out, after being assigned to her case, Platkin said.
Ortiz commented on her appearance and embraced the woman, he said, “all while frequently pairing his requests for dates with reminders that he represented DCF and that her children could be taken from her custody.”
Ortiz, who lives in the Gloucester County town of Woodbury, was initially suspended by the DCF, then ended up resigning, the attorney general said.
OPIA detectives charged him with criminal sexual contact and misconduct following their investigation, he said.
Ortiz took a deal from prosecutors rather than risk the potential consequences of a trial, pleading guilty earlier this month to official misconduct, Platkin said in a statement on Friday, May 26.
In exchange, he must serve five years in state prison without parole, the attorney general said.
Ortiz also can never again hold a public job or ever hold public office, he said.
Ortiz “deliberately targeted vulnerable women who feared coming forward because of the perceived control he had over their families and children,” Platkin said. “He tried to exploit his position of power and capitalize on the difficult circumstances in their lives.”
New Jersey Deputy Attorneys General Brian Uzdavinis and Niccole Sandora of the OPIA secured the plea and sentence, which Platkin said is scheduled to be handed down by Superior Court Judge David M. Ragonese in Camden on July 14.
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