CMCo Corrections Officer Indicted on Sexual Assault Charges

COURT HOUSE – A Cape May County grand jury, April 25, formally indicted a Cape May County corrections officer who was arrested in February and charged with first-degree sexual assault on a minor.
Jonathan Perez, 33, was suspended without pay from his job as a corrections officer at the Cape May County Correctional Facility after he was arrested Feb. 12, as a result of a joint investigation between the New Jersey State Police and the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office.
Superior Court Judge Christine Smith ordered Perez to be held without bail, Feb. 21, in the Cape May County Correctional Facility after he was returned to Cape May County from New York following the investigation.
According to the prosecution at Perez’s Feb. 21 hearing, Perez was arrested after the victim’s mother told police, Feb. 11, that Perez sexually assaulted her child. The report identified Perez as the minor’s stepfather.
On various occasions between 2020 and Feb. 3, 2023, Perez is alleged to have given the child alcohol and allowed her to watch pornography, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
A report in The Press of Atlantic City said Perez had sexual intercourse with the girl, including when the child was at home for virtual school. Perez also allegedly used sex toys and tied the girl’s wrists during the assaults.
The child told her mother about the assaults Feb. 8, the Press article said.
The mother reported the assaults to law enforcement and a sexual assault medical forensic examination was performed at Cape Regional Medical Center. The child was later interviewed by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office.
As a result of the initial investigation Feb. 12, Perez was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault, crimes of the first degree; sexual assault, a crime of the second degree; and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, crimes of the second degree.
An individual convicted of an aggravated sexual assault against a victim under the age of 13 is subject to a term of imprisonment of 25 years to life per the Jessica Lunsford Act. An individual convicted of a first-degree crime is subject to a term of imprisonment of 10 to 20 years in New Jersey state prison and second-degree crimes can carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison.