A 60-year-old Maryland man who served in multiple capacities at the Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church in Piscataway has admitted to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
PISCATAWAY - A 60-year-old former assistant youth minister, who served in multiple capacities at the Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church in Piscataway, has admitted to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced Tuesday.
Ronald L. Wilcox, 60, of Fruitland, Md., pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated sexual assault on Monday, admitting that he sexually assaulted the girl between July 1996 and sometime in 1998.
Ronald L. Wilcox, 61, was indicted on two counts of sex-assault, two counts of criminal sexual contact and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. Wilcox, who lived in Piscataway at the time of the sexual assault, was arrested and charged with the offense in April following an investigation by Detective Kenneth L. Saunders Jr. of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and Detective Robert Rose of the Piscataway Police Department.
The investigation started after the victim, who is now an adult, told a relative of the alleged crimes and the relative contacted authorities, the prosecutor's office said.
Investigators determined that Wilcox sexually assaulted the teenager at a church office and at her home while he served as a Deacon-in-training and assisted the youth ministry at the Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church.
Under the terms of his plea agreement with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Miralles Walsh, Wilcox could be sentenced to serve up to 10 years in a New Jersey state prison when he sentenced before Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas. His sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2016.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Detective Kenneth Saunders of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at 732-745-3600 or Detective Robert Rose of the Piscataway Police Department at 732-562-1100.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
