Jennifer Amato
Staff Writer
NEW BRUNSWICK — A state corrections officer was charged on Jan. 30 with having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl.
Cole Boykin Jr., 34, of Bordentown, was charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and prostitution arising from an encounter at an Edison hotel on Jan. 29, according to a statement prepared by Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan.
Boykin, who was employed as a corrections officer at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, was charged during an investigation by Edison Detectives Robert Duffy and Detective Michael Kohut and Detectives Deon McCall and Joseph Chesseri, both of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. He has been suspended without pay, according to a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
The investigation began after the victim and an unidentified 15-year-old girl were stopped by police outside of an Edison hotel and reported having a dispute with the corrections officer, the statement said.
The investigation showed the defendant contacted the 15-year-old through a website and arranged to meet with her at the hotel. During the encounter, Boykin and the 15-year-old girl engaged in the dispute. The officer left the hotel but was traced by police, according to officials.
The name of the hotel is not being released to protect the investigation, according to James O’Neill, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.
Boykin was being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick with bail waiting to be set, as of press time.
Anyone with information should contact Duffy or Kohut at 732-248-7400, or McCall or Chesseri at 732-745-3300.
