University Student Avoids Dismissal After Successfully Defending Sexual Assault Charges
A junior in a health sciences program at a New Jersey university retained the Lento Law Firm's Criminal Defense Team after police arrested him on sexual assault charges. The charges also threatened our client's university enrollment. The charges arose out of an alleged off-campus relationship between our client and a woman who had no connection with the university. But when university officials learned of the charges, they commenced a disciplinary proceeding against the student pending the outcome of the criminal charges. The woman had complained to police that our client had forced her to engage in sexual acts after they met on the street and went to her apartment. Our client acknowledged their meeting and that he had followed her to her apartment, which the building video confirmed. But our client maintained that he had left the apartment almost immediately when he suspected that the woman had bad intentions. Our investigator confirmed from surveillance and street interviews that the woman was likely stealing and extorting in similar schemes. We shared our investigator's information with the prosecutor, who authorized further police investigation. Investigators approached the woman posing as our client's representative. In their meeting, the woman acknowledged her intent to extort money from our client and that our client had not done anything to the woman. The prosecution dismissed the charges against our client and pursued false-report charges against the woman.
Mechanic Successfully Defends Robbery Charge on Mistaken Identity
A mechanic employed at a South New Jersey vehicle dealership retained the Lento Law Firm's Criminal Defense Team after police arrested him on robbery charges. The arrest arose out of the robbery of a couple as they left a restaurant in an urban area. The couple had promptly reported a description to police of the suspect's estimated height, weight, race, and clothing and the model and color of the vehicle in which the robber had escaped. Police stopped our client on a nearby street moments later, returning to the scene where the couple identified our client as the robber. Police did not recover the stolen purse, wallet, jewelry, or cell phone on our client's person or in his vehicle but maintained that he must have disposed of them to an accomplice or in a hidden location in the brief meantime. Our investigation confirmed a solid alibi defense that our client had just left work at the dealership. Investigators re-interviewed the couple, disclosing the alibi defense and sharing mugshots of other potential suspects. The couple agreed that they might have been mistaken, after which the prosecution dismissed the charge.
