By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Juan Jimenez-Olivera, 30, of Hamilton Road, Hillsborough Township, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and four other charges in the April 2014 death of a 30-year-old woman in her Hillsborough condominium.
Mr. Jimenez-Olivera also pleaded guilty to aggravated arson in the second degree; disturbing and desecrating human remains, in the second degree; hindering apprehension of prosecution, a 3rd-degree crime, and tampering with physical evidence, a 4th degree crime.
In exchange for guilty pleas, Mr. Juan Jimenez–Olivera will likely be sentenced to a mandatory term of 30 years incarceration without parole with a consecutive term of five years incarceration on his guilty plea to disturbing and desecrating human remains.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 18. A press release from the office of Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano said the state will move to dismiss the charge of first-degree aggravated sexual assault after the imposition of sentence.
Mr. Soriano said that on April 29, 2014, at about 8:23 a.m., Hillsborough Township police and fire personnel responded to a residential fire on Bloomingdale Drive. Inside, fire personnel found a deceased female, Sviatlana Dranko, 30, on the second floor of the dwelling. The fire was deemed suspicious as two points of origin were noted, police said.
Detectives from the township police department, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes and Crime Scene and Forensics units and Arson Task Force, as well as the New Jersey Regional Medical Examiner’s Office responded conducted the investigation.
The investigation showed that Ms. Dranko was dead prior to the setting of the fires. Police said the fires were intentionally set. Detectives followed leads that ultimately led them to Mr. Jimenez-Olivera, with whom she worked at a Hillsborough pizzeria.
Police identified Mr. Jimenez–Olivera as the person responsible for sexually assaulting and murdering Ms. Dranko prior to the starting of fires. The victim and defendant were not involved in a relationship.
Mr. Jimenez–Olivera remains lodged in the Somerset County Jail in lieu of $1 million cash bail set by the Judge Julie M. Marino. Bail was revoked after the defendant pled guilty on state’s motion.
The state was represented by Assistant Prosecutor Frank P. Kolodzieski II.
