A former Woodland Park NJ police officer has been sentenced to five (5) years in state prison for attempting to sexually assault a 12-year-old girl.
41-year-old Steven Vigorito Jr. was arrested in April 2012 after a Woodland Park NJ woman complained that he had been exchanging sexually explicit text messages with her underage daughter. The images allegedly included pictures of Mr. Vigorito Jr. exposing his penis while in police uniform. The victim’s mother also told police that the text messages included requests from Mr. Vigorito Jr. for the underage victim to meet him for sex.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Vigorito Jr. and the young girl first met while he responded to a call from her parents about her sneaking out of the house with an older boy.
Mr. Vigorito Jr. agreed to the prison term as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. As a result of the plea deal, Mr. Vigorito Jr. will also be required to register as a sex offender. Additionally, Mr. Vigorito Jr. will never be able to work in law enforcement again.
Beyond that, the state’s No Early Release Act (NERA) will apply to the sentence, meaning that Mr. Vigorito Jr. will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his prison term before becoming eligible for parole.
To learn more about this case, see the NJ.com article entitled “Former Woodland Park Officer Sentenced to Five Years for Attempted Sexual Assault of Girl, 12.”
