Probation Officer Admits Sex Assault On Woman He Supervised

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A probation officer from Wall Township has pleaded guilty to charges he sexually assaulted a woman whose probation he supervised, and threatened to send her back to jail, the Monmouth County prosecutor's office announced Monday.

Henry C. Cirignano, 48, of Wall, pleaded guilty Monday before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Ocean County, Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.

Cirignano, who had been a Monmouth County probation officer for 18 years, pleaded guilty six weeks after he was indicted on 17 counts including sexual assault, witness tampering, official misconduct, terroristic threats and criminal coercion. He was arrested in February 2019 and charged with witness tampering in April 2019 after he violated a no-contact order.

TheJan. 8 indictment had come after protracted negotiations and after Cirignano withdrew from a plea agreement at the last minute in early January.

The prosecutor's office said evidence gathered showed that between August 2016 and January 2019, Cirignano repeatedly engaged in sexual activity with the female probationer while she was under his supervision. Cirignano had threatened to create false probation violations that would have sent the woman back to jail unless she provided sexual favors to him.

"Cirignano's sexual assaults upon the victim were frequent and repetitive, occurring in three separate locations where the victim was residing during the period of probation supervision," Gramiccioni's office said at the time of the indictment.

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