By: Richard L. Smith
Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone, in coordination with the South Brunswick Police Department, has announced the arrest of a Monmouth Junction man in connection with over a dozen incidents of lewdness and criminal sexual contact reported between November 2023 and December 2024.
The incidents occurred in South Brunswick Township and on Rutgers University's Piscataway campus.
The investigation began in November 2023 when the South Brunswick Police Department received multiple reports of a man engaging in lewd behavior near the Royal Oaks Apartment Complex in Monmouth Junction.
Authorities intensified their efforts in October 2024, when similar incidents were reported at Rutgers University's Dickson Carr Library, located at 74 Avenue E in Piscataway.
Rutgers University Police Department investigators identified the suspect as 21-year-old Jihad Goines, a current Rutgers student.
Evidence gathered during the investigation linked Goines to the South Brunswick cases as well as the incidents on campus.
On December 5, 2024, Goines was arrested without incident. He has been charged with three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact and seven counts of lewdness, a disorderly persons offense.
Law enforcement emphasized that this is an ongoing investigation.
Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Detective Ashley Blackwell at the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (732-745-3465), Officer Jamal Benbow at the South Brunswick Police Department (732-329-4646), or Detective Edwin Tejada at the Rutgers University Police Department (732-932-7211).
