Bergen County Residents Charged In Rutgers Football Assault Case, Report Says

By Michelle Sahn

Two Fort Lee residents are among the three people who have been charged with simple assault in connection with an incident that occurred earlier this month outside the Hale Center, a published report said.

Leonte Q. Carroo, 21, of Edison, was suspended from the football team after he was charged earlier this month with “simple assault under domestic violence,” university police have said.

Maria Vega, 20, and Juan Vega, 52, both of Fort Lee, and Carroo’s mother, Lavern, 41, were charged Tuesday by Rutgers University police with “simple assault and disorderly conduct related to an incident” outside the Hale Center in Piscataway on Sept. 12, according to a statement issued by the Rutgers University Police Department.

NJ.com identified Lavern Carroo as the mother of the suspended player.

“Actions of those charged included general fighting behavior, specifically hair pulling and striking a victim in the face with a hand,’’ the statement from police said.

The young woman was slammed to the ground by Leonte Carroo, according to a complaint filed against him, a published report said. That woman has told a newspaper she believes she blacked out for about 10 seconds after she hit the ground.

The woman, whose name has not been made public, told The Record that she had been previously romantically involved with Leonte Q. Carroo, but had still considered him a friend until this month’s incident.

She was leaving her job at the Hale Center when a group of people, including his current girlfriend, targeted her, and he then intervened in the commotion, the Record, based in Bergen County, reported.

“I have never been so scared,” she told the newspaper.

The younger Carroo has entered a not guilty plea to a simple assault charge, and his attorney, Peter Gilbreth, declined to comment after that plea was entered, NJ.com reported.

Leonte Carroo is suspended indefinitely from the team.