New Jersey police officer sentenced to jail for misconduct with teen in State College
A suspended New Jersey State Police officer was sentenced to jail time Friday in a case involving misconduct with a teenager in State College in 2022.
David De Jesus, 46, was sentenced to a minimum of 60 days of jail time for second degree misdemeanor false imprisonment, and one year of concurrent probation for a third degree misdemeanor charge of furnishing liquor to a minor.
De Jesus was accused of groping a 14-year-old in his room in April 2022 at the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center. Both De Jesus and the team were in town for a wrestling tournament, and the teen had been invited to the hotel pool before the alleged incident took place.
According to Centre County Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron, a jury was selected in June for a trial, but De Jesus pleaded guilty to the two misdemeanors before the trial could take place. McGoron told the court that many of the alleged events were caught on video via the hotel’s security system.
Other parents of students on the wrestling team were officers in the New Jersey State Police, McGoron said, telling the court that she “got the sense” people were aligning with De Jesus because of his position.
The victim’s mother, Melissa Schwartz, told the court that her daughter was “not the same” following the incident.
“As a state police officer, he should have known better,” she said.
De Jesus has been suspended from the New Jersey State Police since 2022.
De Jesus’s defense attorney, Steve Trialonas, pushed back against McGoron’s claims about the video evidence, claiming that according to the footage “at best, (De Jesus) was in the room with her for 210 seconds.”
Five members of the De Jesus family spoke on his behalf, asking Judge Katherine Oliver for leniency based on his public record and the needs of his family.
Delixa De Jesus, the defendant’s sister, said that despite her brother’s patriotism, she “doesn’t know how he feels about his country after all this.”
Danielle De Jesus, the defendant’s wife, said that she feared that her family could lose their house if her husband went to jail, since he is the family’s only source of income.
“I promise you I will come out of this a better person,” David De Jesus said before his sentencing, which took place after Oliver held a recess to weigh her decision.
David De Jesus was originally charged with one felony count of unlawful contact with a minor, two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and one misdemeanor count of furnishing alcohol to a minor. The felony and the indecent assault charges were dropped.