Mays Landing Man Convicted of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child

MAYS LANDING, NJ – On Friday, May 8, 2026, Enmanuel Rodriguez, 34, from Mays Landing, NJ, was convicted by an Atlantic County jury of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child, Sexual Assault of a Child, and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. The Honorable Pamela D’Arcy, P.J.Cr., presided over the week-long trial.

On January 1, 2023, the Hamilton Township Police Department received a report of a minor who was sexually assaulted by her mother’s cousin, the defendant, who is twenty years older than the victim. The victim disclosed that the defendant groomed her online with sexually inappropriate conversations and the exchange of explicit photographs. The contact progressed to the defendant arranging multiple “dates” with the then nine-year-old victim and asking her “to be his girlfriend.” During those “dates” the defendant had various forms of unlawful sexual contact with the victim.

The victim delayed disclosing the abuse. She did not want to tell anyone what the defendant did to her because she loved his family and did not want the defendant in trouble. She disclosed two years after the abuse ended, when she was 11 years old.

Once the report was made to police, a joint investigation between the Hamilton Township Police Department and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office led to a consensual intercept of the defendant’s in person conversation with the victim’s mother. During that conversation, the defendant admitted to inappropriate sexual contact, but did so in a self-serving way, minimizing what he did to the victim. However, the defendant repeatedly apologized to the victim’s mother and claimed “he was already seeking help” and “knew he was wrong.”

The now 14-year-old victim bravely testified for hours at trial. The jury, in convicting the defendant of all charges, rejected the defendant’s self-serving version of events and believed the victim’s account of how she was sexually abused by the defendant.

Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for August 13, 2026, pending an Avenel evaluation. The defendant faces a mandatory minimum 25 years to life imprisonment pursuant to the Jessica Lunsford Act on the Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child charge alone. He also faces mandatory parole supervision for life and Megan’s law registration.

Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Fischer represents the State in this matter and tried the case to the jury.