Crime & Safety
'Caretaker' Sexually Assaulted Woman In Wheelchair In Bergen County: Prosecutor
The "caretaker" of a woman in a wheelchair performed explicit acts on her that were caught on video, Bergen County prosecutors say.
BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Westfield man who was arrested Thursday for sexually assaulting a woman in Bergen County was her caretaker while she was in a wheelchair, says the complaint in the case. READ MORE: Westfield Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting Adult Victim In Bergen County
Michael W. Smith, 41, of Westfield was charged Thursday with aggravated sexual assault and with aggravated criminal sexual contact, said the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.
Prosecutors said that on Jan. 18, Rochelle Park police contacted their Special Victims Unit about an alleged sexual assault.
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An investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office and police determined that Smith had sexually assaulted an adult victim in that town.
Explicit Details
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A complaint in the case gives more details.
According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 20, the victim told prosecutors that Smith had been her caretaker in Rochelle Park over a year ago when she was recovering from an accident that left her "wheelchair bound and unable to take care of herself."
According to the complaint, the victim found out about the assaults when someone forwarded her sexually explicit videos through the messenger app TeleGuard, showing her "incapacitated while a male performed sexual acts on her." It was unclear who forwarded the videos to her.
The victim determined that the videos had been taken in Rochelle Park between December of 2023 and June of 2024 while Smith was her caretaker, the complaint says.
The complaint says that the suspect placed a vape device into the victim's vagina at one point, and also placed his penis into her mouth.
The complaint notes that Smith "knew or should have known the victim was physically helpless or incapacitated."
Smith was arrested in Westfield last Thursday and charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and a count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, prosecutors said.
He was taken to the Bergen County Jail to await a detention hearing in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, prosecutors said.
READ MORE: Westfield Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting Adult Victim In Bergen County
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