SOMERVILLE, NJ (Somerset County) – A 59-year-old Manville Borough man was sentenced to four years in state prison for sexually touching an 8-year-old girl, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
Raul Elias was sentenced on June 14 to four years in New Jersey State Prison on his conviction for endangering the welfare of a child. The sentence imposed by Somerset County Superior Court Peter J. Tober, requires him to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and Parole Supervision for Life, authorities said.
During sentencing, Judge Tober said that defendant Elias took little responsibility for his actions, the prosecutor’s office said.
On March 18, 2022, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office received information that a minor reported that she was sexually assaulted by a man in Manville Borough when she was 8-years-old, authorities said.
The investigation into the alleged sexual assault was conducted by detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and detectives from the Manville Police Department. The man was identified as Elias, and he was charged with second-degree sexual assault by contact of a child under the age of 13 and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child by sexual conduct, the prosecutor’s office said.
A trial was conducted and lasted for three days including jury selection and deliberations. On March 13, a Somerset County Jury convicted Elias of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.
