A Union County jury has returned guilty verdicts against a 71-year-old Plainfield man who sexually assaulted a then-9-year-old girl on multiple occasions a little more than three years ago, acting Union County Prosecutor Jennifer Davenport announced Friday.
Officials say Angel Flores was convicted on charges including first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child following a two-week trial before state Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh and less than two hours of jury deliberations.
A Special Victims Unit (SVU) investigation led by Prosecutor’s Office Sgt. Brian O’Malley and assisted by the Plainfield Police Division revealed that the sexual assaults took place from December 2015 to January 2016, in the building in which both Flores and the victim lived, according to SVU Supervisor and Assistant Prosecutor Caroline Lawlor, who prosecuted the case.
According to officials, Flores, an acquaintance of the victim’s family, and known as “Don Benito” to residents of the multi-family home on the 600 block of Central Avenue in Plainfield, was arrested just days after the final incident took place, Lawlor said.
The victim, now 13, testified at trial, as did several relatives to whom she disclosed details about the trauma she endured.
Sentencing in the case has been scheduled for Friday, June 21 before Judge Walsh, at which time Flores will face a sentence of 25 years to life in state prison under New Jersey’s Jessica Lunsford Act, a piece of legislation enacted in 2014 that introduced a mandatory minimum term for any defendant convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a victim or victims under the age of 13.
Anyone with information about Flores’s activities still is being urged to contact Sgt. O’Malley at 908-220-4323.