Suspect In Laundry Room Attack, Stalking, May Have Harmed Others, Ocean Prosecutor Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Lakewood man who was being held in jail on charges of stalking a woman has been charged with attempted sexual assault in connection with an attack on another woman in a laundry room in December, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Malcolm Hamilton, 26, is being held at the Ocean County jail on charges of attempted aggravated sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and burglary, in a Dec. 29 attack on a woman in Jackson, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Billhimer said investigators believe there may be more victims and are urging anyone who had been attacked to contact authorities.

In the Jackson incident, the woman told investigators from the Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and the Jackson Township Police Department that she had been attacked about 4:50 p.m. on Dec. 29 in the laundry room of an apartment complex, authorities said.

She was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, in Lakewood, where she was treated for her injuries and released, authorities said.

The investigation identified Hamilton as a suspect in the attack and in the course of the investigation, detectives learned there had been another victim, Billhimer said.

That led to charges of stalking, three counts of burglary and two counts of credit card theft against Hamilton, who was arrested Feb. 23 on those charges, he said.

While Hamilton was being held, detectives were able to connect him to the laundry room attack, Billhimer said, and served him with the charges in that case on Feb. 28, while he was still being held in the county jail.

He is being held pending a detention hearing, Billhimer said.

"Based on our investigation and the evidence we have compiled, we believe there may be additional unidentified victims, particularly in the Lakewood, Jackson and Howell Township area," Billhimer said.

Anyone who recognizes Hamilton and who believes they had contact with him is urged to call Detective Nicole Testa of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit at 732-929-2027, ext. 3489, or Jackson Detective Stephen Purtell at 732-928-1111.

In addition to the special victims unit and Jackson police, Billhimer said the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit assisted in the investigation.