Crime & Safety

Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting Union County Teen

Philip J. Rainone, 58, of South Amboy is charged with assaulting a Union County teenager and possessing images of sexual assault on a six-year-old.

A Middlesex County man and New Jersey Transit Rail Operations bridge operator has been indicted on multiple sexual assault charges involving a 14-year-old Union County resident and a second, younger victim, Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Thursday.

Philip J. Rainone, 58, of South Amboy is charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault, second-, third-, and fourth-degree charges of endangering the welfare of a child, and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

He allegedly assaulted the 14-year-old and possessed and produced child pornography involving the second victim, a female who appears to be about six years old.

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An investigation conducted by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit determined Rainone allegedly assaulted the 14-year-old in Union County on at least one occasion.

He was arrested on June 19, and a computer belonging to him was confiscated.

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The prosecutor’s office’s High Tech Task Force recovered screenshot images of his computer that depict an unidentified man engaged in multiple graphic sex acts with the second victim.

The prosecutor’s office believes the images were downloaded during an Internet chat session on May 24. The session is believed to have taken place on omegle.com, a website that arranges online meetings between strangers anonymously online.

An investigation into the identity of the man and the young victim appearing in those images is continuing. Anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Union County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Alex Lopez at 908-965-3876.

“This case reiterates the need for parents to be vigilant regarding which websites their children visit, and especially those sites that permit contact with anonymous users,” Park said.

Rainone is lodged in Union County Jail on $500,000 bail. Each of the three second-degree charges he is facing carries a potential penalty of 5 to 10 years in state prison, and if convicted Rainone also would be permanently barred from ever again holding public employment in New Jersey.


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