By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
LAWRENCE – A 24-year-old Hamilton Township man faces one count each of criminal sexual contact, harassment and trespassing, and two counts of burglary for entering Rider University dormitories and a sorority house last month, according to the Lawrence Township Police Department.
Jon Cannon was arrested Oct. 3 and charged in connection with the incidents that occurred on Sept. 11, Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, police Lt. Joseph Amodio said. Police are not certain how Mr. Cannon got into the dormitories and the sorority house.
The charges of criminal sexual contact and burglary stem from the Sept. 27 incident, in which he entered a student’s unlocked dorm room and touched her on the chest, Lt. Amodio said. The student woke up and Mr. Cannon fled.
The day before, on Sept. 26, Mr. Cannon entered a sorority house, but fled when a female student and a male visitor noticed him, Lt. Amodio said. He was charged with trespassing in that incident.
Earlier in the month, Mr. Cannon entered an unlocked dormitory room and touched a student’s shoulder while she was asleep. When she woke up, he fled. He was charged with harassment/offensive touching and burglary in the Sept. 11 incident, Lt. Amodio said.
The investigation was a combined effort by the Lawrence Township and Hamilton Township police departments, and Rider University’s administration and public safety officers, Lt. Amodio said.
Mr. Cannon is being held in the Mercer County Correction Center on $130,000 bail.
