NJ sex offenders, fugitives caught in Summit Hill – Times News Online – tnonline.com

Published June 28. 2021 06:30AM

Two New Jersey men who were wanted by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office in that state and the New Jersey State Parole Board have been taken into custody in Summit Hill and are lodged in the Carbon County Correctional Facility, Nesquehoning, pending extradition.

Emanuel Cortez, 31, of East Orange, and Alberto Colon, 48, of Newark, were found together in the Summit Hill residence of a family with two children, according to the office of the Essex County Prosecutor, New Jersey.

They were captured by U.S. Marshals and Task Force officers from the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey.

Officials said Cortez was released from confinement in May 2018, and had been missing from supervision since March 15, 2019. By way of indictment, he is charged with escape, theft and interfering with a monitoring device. Police said he is subject to Megan’s Law as a result of an adjudication of sexual assault in 1998 where the victim was an 8-year-old boy.

Colon was released from confinement in November 2019, and was missing from supervision since March 7 of this year. Police said he failed to appear in court that month on an indictment that charges him with failure to register as a sex offender and interfering with a monitoring device. His prior crimes were criminal sexual contact in 1997, endangering the welfare of a child and engaging in sexual conduct in 1994 and sexual assault in 1994. Authorities said his victims were girls between the aged of 11 and 14.

Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II thanked the U.S. Marshals Service and the New Jersey State Parole Board for their continued assistance to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offenders and for their diligent efforts in locating these offenders. He also thanked the Task Force officers from the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey, along with other law enforcement partners in Pennsylvania who assisted in the apprehension of Cortez and Colon.

Juan Mattos, U.S. Marshal for the District of New Jersey, said, “The arrest of these two offenders are a direct result of the outstanding cooperative efforts of the District of New Jersey, NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Middle District of Pennsylvania which demonstrated the effectiveness and impact of collaborating resources to locate and capture fugitives.”

Additional charges against Cortez and Colon are expected to be filed in Essex County, Stephens said.