Egg Harbor Man Charged With 2003 Sexual Assault Of Galloway Girl

GALLOWAY, NJ – An Egg Harbor man who was recently charged in connection with the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl 25 years ago, now faces charges now in Galloway, after police used DNA evidence to connect him to the sexual assault of a young girl here in 2003.

Brian Lee Avis, 59, has been charged by Galloway Township Police with the sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl, acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Cary Shill announced Wednesday. The new charges come a week after Avis was charged by Brigantine Police in connection with a 25-year-old cold case.

In Galloway, Avis faces charges of sexual assault of a juvenile, endangering the welfare of a child and burglary in the 2003 case. Prosecutors said that the charges were brought after Galloway Township Police Det. Ryan Goehringer received word on Monday a New Jersey State Police lab in regard to a delayed fingerprint hit, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The delayed fingerprint hit was confirmed and came back to Avis in connection to a sexual assault and burglary case investigated by Galloway Police on July 18, 2003, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Galloway Township Police were sent to 457 Willow Ave. just before midnight on that night for a report of a burglary. Prosecutors said that the mother of the juvenile victim told police that she observed a man quickly exiting the home. The mother of the 5 year-old female victim told police that when she found her daughter, that her pajama bottoms were pulled down, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The earlier case reportedly involving Avis involved a 10-year-old Brigantine girl, whom police said was sexually assaulted after a man broke into her home in the middle of the night and assaulted her while she was sleeping, police said.

Detectives were able to obtain DNA evidence from the scene, prosecutors said, but that there were no matches after the suspect’s DNA profile was created in 2002 and uploaded into a national database.

Detectives, working along with the New Jersey State Police, reopened the case January of this year and submitted the DNA profile for analysis in July. The investigation, using the DNA evidence, identified Avis as the suspect. He was charged Sept. 13 with multiple crimes, including sexual assault of a child less than 13 in the Brigantine incident before he was charged this week in Galloway.

Avis is currently in jail at the Atlantic County Justice Facility and will appear in court on both cases on Monday.