Imprisoned killer faces up to 105 years in prison for years-long sex abuse of young girl – NJ.com

A convicted killer, already serving more than 50 years in prison for strangling a woman, was found guilty of sexually abusing a young girl for years in Essex County, prosecutors said Thursday.

A jury deliberated for less than a day before finding Roberto Grillo guilty on all 12 counts, including endangering the welfare of a child, sex assault and aggravated sexual assault, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II announced.

Grillo abused his victim beginning when she was 12 years old and continued until she was 16 at different locations, including the parking lot of a Belleville McDonald’s, according to testimony at trial. When Grillo learned he was wanted by authorities, he fled to Tampa, Florida, where he tried to kill himself before being arrested in March 2015.

“The victim suffered years of torment at the hands of this defendant. She has found justice today,’’ Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Morris, who tried the case, said in a statement.

Grillo faces up to 105 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year, officials said. The former Bloomfield resident is already incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, serving more than five decades for the December 2015 murder of Yolanda Vega in Rahway.

In October 2018, Grillo was convicted of strangulating Vega, a mother of two, and breaking into her home. Investigators learned Vega repeatedly invited Grillo to her home for meals, and his original target was her relative.

At his Union County sentencing, a judge called the slaying “a cold-blooded, brutal murder,” and said the killer “needs to be removed from society…for a substantial period of time.”

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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