Parents Accuse Sex Offender Of Inappropriate Comments To Girl, 10

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Parents who say their 10-year-old daughter was subjected to inappropriate comments and gestures from a man who is a convicted sex offender are blasting Toms River police for not arresting the man.

But Toms River police said they cannot, because the man's actions were not witnessed by the police officer.

Steven Worthy posted on Facebook about the incident that happened last week. He said was in the family's car with his daughter and son stopped at the traffic signal on Indian Hill Road near Home Depot when the man pulled up next to him at the signal and began blowing kisses at Worthy's 10-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat with her 6-year-old brother.

"My daughter said, 'Daddy this man is doing some weird things to me,' " said Sabrina Lanning, the girl's mother. "When he turns around and looked he caught him blowing kisses at her and rubbing his chest."

"He was rubbing his nipples in a circle and telling her to come here," Worthy said in a now-deleted Facebook post. Angered, he followed the man to the Wawa on Route 9 while on the phone with Toms River police, Lanning said. At the Wawa, Worthy confronted the man, Police arrived shortly thereafter and when questioned, the man, identified as Ronald Jakubowski, told the police officer he waved at the girl but denied doing anything inappropriate.

The responding Toms River police officer took a harassment report from Worthy on his daughter's behalf, Toms River Capt. Michael Brosnan said.

At that point, however, the officer could not arrest Jakubowski, Brosnan said.

"This was due to the fact that harassment is a disorderly persons offense and the behavior was not observed by the reporting officer," Brosnan said.

"The father was directed to the municipal court to sign a criminal complaint (to see) if probable cause could be determined," Brosnan said.

Jakubowski, 49, is a Tier 2 registered sex offender according to the New Jersey State Police database. His record includes two previous incidents of exposing himself to girls age 10 and younger, in 2015 and in 2008, according to the database.

In the harassment complaint Worthy later signed against Jakubowski, Jakubowski admitted to the police officer that he is a convicted sex offender and has "a deviance," and that was why he waved at the girl.

That's what infuriated Worthy and Lanning.

"They knew he was a convicted sex offender and they let him go," Lanning said. "I want justice for my daughter."

"The behavior described was likely inappropriate, but borderline criminal," Brosnan said, adding the reporting officer noted Jakubowski's status as a sex offender and notified Jakubowski's parole officer as well as a detective in the Toms River Police Department, "to determine if the offense could violate the conditions of (Jakubowski's) parole."

In addition to the notifications to Jakubowski's parole officer and the Toms River detective, the Ocean County prosecutor's office was notified as well, Toms River police said.

Brosnan said police realize the parents are frustrated that an arrest wasn't immediate. But that does not mean Toms River police have completely dropped the issue.

"This investigation is ongoing," Brosnan said.

That isn't making the parents any happier, and Worthy has continued to post on Facebook, demanding action.

"He (Jakubowski) needs to be locked up." Worthy said in one post.

Ronald P. Jakubowski photo via New Jersey State Police sex offender registry