45°
The cashier at the Route 1 Linden store told police she was getting out of her car after arriving for an early-morning shift on Christmas Eve 2012 when she was “pushed back into the passenger side of her vehicle by a masked gunman,” Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park said this afternoon.
Joseph Defreitas, 42, then got behind the wheel and ordered her to direct him to an ATM where she could withdraw money to give to him, Park said.
Instead, he took her to an undisclosed location and raped her, the prosecutor said.
Defreitas then drove her back to the store and threatened to kill her before fleeing, Park said.
A 14-month investigation by Park’s Special Victims Unit led to charges against Defreitas of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery and weapons possession, she said.
Defreitas already was in the Morris County Jail, along with a female accomplice — also from East Rutherford — on charges of aducting a New Hampshire woman who got lost while visiting family.
In that incident, Defreitas is accused of making the victim withdraw money from an ATM machine and forcing her into the trunk of his car before she managed to get free and alert police.
Also charged in the incident is 52-year-old Marilyn Nadeu.
Defreitas also has pending charges in a several home invasion robberies in Connecticut.
He was being held on $650,000 bail in the Morris County Jail.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Rutherford and receive free news updates.
