Conviction Upheld in Sexual Assault of 12-Year-Old Girl

The conviction of a Pennsauken man on child sexual assault charges was upheld by a state appeals court, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Monday.

Victor E. Albarracin, 35, was convicted on Sept. 20, 2012 of inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl in his Woodbury Heights apartment on July 10, 2007.

Albarracin argued that the testimony of the victim’s sisters should not have been permitted; that the trial judge should have instructed the jury about the defense of intoxication; that one of the victim’s sisters was allowed to testify about a prior inappropriate incident; that testimony about the investigating detective meeting with a state child welfare caseworker should have been barred; and that Albarracin was deprived of his right to testify.

Those arguments were rejected by the appellate judge.

The 30-page appellate opinion pointed out that the trial judge twice “carefully explained” to the defendant his options about testifying, even though he was not specifically asked whether he wanted to take the stand at the end of the prosecution’s case.

In a brief opposing the appeal, Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Joseph Enos addressed Albarracin’s claim that when he touched the girl, he was in a “dream-like” state after he’d been drinking. The defendant himself never claimed to be intoxicated, Enos said, and there was no evidence his mental faculties were “prostrated.”

The appeals court remanded the case for resentencing to clarify what appeared to be an inconsistency in factors the trial judge used to determine the sentence.