COURT HOUSE – Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland and Chief Jay Prettyman, of the Ocean City Police Department, announced the arrest of 34-year-old Ricardo Valle, a resident of Seabrook, Texas, on sexual assault charges.
According to a release, Valle Feb. 27 was charged with two counts sexual assault, a crime of the second degree; one count of official misconduct, a crime of the second degree; one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a crime of the second degree; and one count of criminal sexual contact, a crime of the fourth degree.
These charges were a result of a joint investigation conducted by the Ocean City Police Department and the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit, after it was reported that Valle allegedly sexually assaulted a student, in 2016, while he was a teacher at the Ocean City High School.
Valle was arrested in Texas by members of the Seabrook Police Department and is currently being lodged at the Harris County Jail, pending extradition hearings. Valle is not currently a teacher at Ocean City High School.
Sutherland advises that a person convicted of a second-degree crime is subject to a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison. A person convicted of a third-degree crime is subject to three to five years, and a fourth-degree crime can have a sentence of up to 18 months in state prison.
Sutherland advises that this is an ongoing investigation and urges anyone who has additional information related to this investigation to contact the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, at 609-465-1135, or the Ocean City Police Department, at 609-525-9131, or report it anonymously through the Cape May County Sheriff’s Tip Line, at cmcsheriff.net and click on anonymous tip, or through the Cape May County Crime Stoppers, 609-889-3597.
It should be noted that the above individual(s) are only charged with the above mentioned offenses and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This report only contains individuals that were arrested based on complaints signed by law enforcement personnel, not private citizen signed complaints or ordinance violations.
