Thread: NJ: Only 1 sentenced in Morristown Rape

Only 1 sentenced in Morristown rape

BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD
Tuesday, January 8, 2008

12 Comments

An illegal immigrant who yanked a woman off a sidewalk in Morristown and raped her was sentenced today to 20 years in state prison but his cohort , who admitted holding the victim down during the assault, wants to withdraw his guilty plea.

Joel Armando Romero, 28, who is in this country illegally from Honduras, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison and must serve 17 years before parole consideration for the July 10, 2005 attack. Romero apologized, saying he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time and felt "a mental confusion that made him attack the woman."

The woman has been identified as a young adult from the United Kingdom who was working an internship in the United States when she was attacked.

Romero admitted to pulling the victim off a sidewalk and raping her with the help of a passing stranger -- Juan Amendano, 26, an illegal alien from Ecuador.

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office had recommended that Romero serve 30 years in prison but Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone had said he would likely impose a 20-year term, with 85 percent to be served before parole eligibility. Romero is likely to be deported to his country upon release.

Amendano's plea offer called for him to serve between eight and 10 years in prison on his guilty plea to aggravated sexual assault and he, too, faces deportation when released.

Today, Amendano told the judge he did nothing wrong and wants to withdraw his guilty plea. During his plea in April, he told the judge he came upon Romero raping the woman in a patch of woods off Lafayette Avenue and that he held her down at Romero's request.

The judge said he will decide at a hearing in March whether Amendano can withdraw his plea.

Both men pleaded guilty in Morristown before Falcone, but the judge is set to sentence them this afternoon in Passaic County, where he was transferred in September.

The victim was not present but a statement from her was read in court. She said the attack has completely changed her personality and made her afraid to go out alone at night.

"I feel like I have lost all my independence as I will not go anywhere after dark alone," the statement said.


http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 0880108009

Romero admitted to pulling the victim off a sidewalk and raping her with the help of a passing stranger -- Juan Amendano, 26, an illegal alien from Ecuador.

Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande!
Can you imagine? What scum!!! You're passing by a rape in progress and you help the rapist!!! I'm beginning to think that every dam illegal is a potential rapist, murderer, drunk driver looking for a place to happen!
I'd round every dam one of them up in cattle trucks and haul them to the border. I'd brand their foreheads with the letter "I".

I have said it before and I must say it again.

This must be another example of two hard working illegals with decent family values that have come to America to better themselves by doing those jobs that Americans refuse to do.

Updated article:
Morristown rapist sentenced to 20 years
Illegal alien blames drugs for '05 attack
BY PEGGY WRIGHT

DAILY RECORD
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Photos on link below.

7 Comments
PATERSON -- An illegal immigrant who grabbed a woman off a Morristown street and raped her was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison. However, his cohort, who admitted restraining the victim, told a judge he wants to withdraw his guilty plea.

Joel Armando Romero, who is in this country illegally from Honduras, apologized for traumatizing the victim on July 10, 2005, but blamed the rape on his alcohol and drug consumption.

Romero, 28, pleaded guilty in May to kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault, admitting that he pulled the victim into a patch of woods off Lafayette Avenue around 2 a.m. and raped her.

Accomplice Juan Antonio Amendano, 25, an illegal alien from Ecuador, admitted in April to aggravated sexual assault by saying he was returning home from a night of drinking when he heard screams and stopped to investigate. He said he saw a stranger on top of a woman and he obeyed the man's request to hold the woman down so he could rape her.

Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone took the pleas in Morristown in the spring but sentenced Romero Tuesday in Passaic County, where he now sits. Romero told Falcone he accepts responsibility for his crimes but Amendano said he did nothing wrong and now wants to retract his plea.

Undoing a plea

"I have declared myself guilty of things I did not do," Amendano said, through an interpreter. The judge said he would hear formal arguments on March 14 on Amendano's request to take back the plea.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood asked the judge to impose a 30-year sentence on Romero but Falcone opted to sentence him to 20 years, with 85 percent or 17 years to be served before parole consideration. Romero faces deportation upon release, but if allowed to stay in the U.S., would have to register as a convicted sex offender under Megan's Law.

Amendano was expected to be sentenced to between eight and 10 years in prison because of his lesser role in the crime, but he risks a 20-year sentence if his plea is thrown out and he is convicted at trial.

Romero read a lengthy statement in court, asking the victim and all of Morris County for forgiveness but saying "pieces of ice" invaded his brain when he saw the woman and he was under the influence of booze and drugs at the time.

"I felt a mental confusion and I didn't have the capacity to react to avoid this," Romero said.

Victim's plight

Calderwood read a letter from the victim, who now is 22. She is a resident of the United Kingdom and was temporarily living in Morristown at the time while completing an internship in the United States. Her letter described a life scarred by the assault and her losses, including her relationship with her longtime boyfriend. She wrote that she has gone from being a trusting and fun-loving young woman to a frightened, insecure person who has reached "some all-time lows."

"I feel like I have lost all my independence as I will not go anywhere after dark alone," the victim wrote.

Calderwood upbraided Romero "for using alcohol and drugs as an excuse," and said the victim believed she would die when Romero knocked her down on the street, dragged her by the hair into the woods and choked her as she yelled for help.

"By raping this woman ... he has committed the ultimate act of savagery and for that he deserves 30 years in prison," Calderwood said.



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Peggy Wright can be reached at (973) 267-1142 or pwright@gannett.com.



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http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 8801090363

Think about it. Illegals and their supporters call US racist because of the fact we want them out of our country.
Here you have one of these losers raping a women and one of his "bretheren" comes wandering by. What does he do???? Does he help the woman being violated???? NO, he aids in the rape!!!! Because the rapist belongs to his race! Tell me, who is racist????
Unbelievable