COURT HOUSE – A former Ocean City police sergeant pleaded guilty March 2 to endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors announced.
Rolls faces a minimum five-year state prison sentence for the second-degree crime and will forfeit all future public employment, according to a Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office press release.
A first-degree charge of aggravated sexual assault on a minor was apparently dropped as part of the plea.
After his release from prison, Rolls will be under parole supervision for life, need to register as a sex offender and may have no contact with the victim, Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland announced.
Rolls was initially charged in April 2021, and indicted that November, following an investigation conducted by detectives from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit.
Rolls faces a minimum five-year state prison sentence for the second-degree crime and will forfeit all future public employment, according to a Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office press release.
A first-degree charge of aggravated sexual assault on a minor was apparently dropped as part of the plea.
After his release from prison, Rolls will be under parole supervision for life, need to register as a sex offender and may have no contact with the victim, Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland announced.
Rolls was initially charged in April 2021, and indicted that November, following an investigation conducted by detectives from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in Rolls’ case, he had a sexual relationship with an underage girl, beginning when she was 15. The alleged victim was 20 when she filed the complaint.
The complainant said Rolls first kissed her the day before she began her sophomore year at Ocean City High School in his patrol car, while on duty.
She claimed she was later digitally penetrated by Rolls while he was driving his personal vehicle, and after she had turned 16, the two had sex at Rolls’ Marmora home, the affidavit said. The two continued to engage in sex through her senior year of high school, according to the complaining witness’ statement.
On New Year’s Eve and/or Jan. 1, 2021, Rolls and the complainant had a verbal altercation, according to the affidavit, and he allegedly hit her with an open hand, saying, “Now you know what it is like to be hit.” She told investigators she felt she suffered a concussion.
Rolls will be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr. May 19. Rolls was out on pretrial release and it is unclear if he is now in custody, following his guilty plea.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Bryna Batton led the prosecution, according to the release. Rolls was represented by defense attorneys Meghan Hoerner and James Leonard.
