The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A 23-year-old township man was sentenced Oct. 16 to 23 years in state prison for a kidnapping and sexual assault in Highland Park.
Under the sentence imposed by state Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas, Brandon Cox of Somerset will have to serve 85 percent of his term – 9.5 years – before he is eligible for parole, according to a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Rivas, sitting in New Brunswick, also ordered that Cox register as a Megan’s Law sex offender and be placed on parole supervision for life upon his release from prison.
According to the release, Cox admitted that on Feb. 19, 2017, he approached a woman walking in Highland Park with her child and brandished a handgun. He then forced the woman into the basement of a nearby apartment building, where he sexually assaulted her and repeatedly hit her in the face before fleeing.
The plea deal that led to the sentencing was arranged by Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Allysa Gambarella.
Cox was arrested and charged during an intensive investigation by Detective Sean McGraw of the Highland Park Police Department and Detective Allie Bitterman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, according to the press release.
