Ocean Township resident Jevan A. James is facing sexual assault charges on two separate attacks in 2005 of two township women. OCEAN TOWNSHIP- A township man is facing charges in connection with two sexual assaults that allegedly occurred over a four-month period in 2005, authorities said.
After a three-year investigation, police arrested and charged Jevan A. James, 22, of Willow Drive, on May 28 with sexually assaulting two female victims, according to a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
If convicted on both crimes, James faces up to 30 years in prison, according to police reports.
James was charged with second-degree sexual assault for allegedly attacking a 45-year-old Ocean Township woman on April 14, 2005, authorities said.
The victim had exited a bus on Route 35 and was walking along the roadway toward her apartment when James attacked her, authorities said. James is accused of physically assaulting and choking the victim, and then dragging her into a wooded area where he sexually assaulted her, authorities said.
James was also charged with aggravated sexual assault for an attack of a 25-year-old township woman, which occurred at approximately 12:30 a.m. July 21, 2005, according to police reports.
The victim, an employee of the Ocean Fitness Center on Route 35, was sitting on the back steps of the fitness center waiting for a friend when James approached her, threatened her with a knife and forced her into a wooded area where he sexually assaulted her, according to police reports.
Because of the similarity and geographical proximity of the two attacks, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ocean Township Police Department investigated the possibility that the same assailant had victimized both women, authorities said.
Information was developed last month, which enabled police to charge James with both attacks.
James was transported to the Monmouth County Adult Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, in lieu of $300,000 bail.
If convicted of sexual assault, James faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. If he is convicted of aggravated sexual assault, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Both sentences would be subject to the No Early Release Act, which would require that James serve 85 percent of any sentence imposed before being eligible for parole, according to authorities.
If convicted, James will also be subject to parole supervision for life and the registration and notification requirements of Megan’s Law, according to reports.
“Police continued to investigate these violent and frightening crimes notwithstanding the passage of approximately three years,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said in a press release.