Police: Rhode Island Man Arrested In Township Hotel On Kidnapping, Sexual Assault Charges

Paul Monteiro.
Photo: Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office

A 29-year-old Rhode Island man remains in the Somerset County Jail two days after he was arrested in a township motel with a 14-year-old girl who had been reported missing.

The man, Paul J. Monteiro, of Providence, was charged with First Degree human trafficking, First Degree kidnapping and Second Degree sexual assault, according to a press release on the arrest from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

Township police and agents from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security were looking for the girl – who is also from Rhode Island – when she was allegedly found with Monteiro in a Worlds Fair Drive hotel, according to the release.

Police said Monteiro brought the girl from Rhode Island to New Jersey. He remains in the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, on $400,000 bail.

Somerset County Prosecutor’s detectives have joined in the ongoing investigation, according to the release. Police are looking into Monteiro’s travels from Rhode Island to determine if there were any other victims, and are asking for the public’s help in that effort.

Anyone with information regarding the investigation is asked to contact the Franklin Township Police Department at (732) 873-5533, the Somerset County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit at (908) 231-7100, or the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.888577tips.org or www.scpo.net and click on either “Crime Stoppers” or “TIPS HOTLINE”. All Crime Stopper tipsters will remain anonymous and all tips will be kept confidential.

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