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Based upon his description of both suspects, Mahwah police went to their homes. But Police Chief James Batelli said their “parents/guardians refused to let them be interviewed.”
The chief said his officers believe they’ve identified the residence where one of the alleged sexual assaults took and “located corroborating physical evidence to confirm that.”
The purported victim said he took a train from Manhattan to Secaucus Junction after a night of drinking and was trying to figure out how to get home from there, Batelli said this afternoon.
The two juveniles offered to help — and even paid for his ticket — saying they were headed home from South Jersey, the man told police.
Once they got to the Mahwah station, on East Ramapo Avenue near Franklin Turnpike, he said, the pair told him they’d “help him get a transfer to Fair Lawn.”
But they “walked him in an area adjacent to the tracks to a clearing in the woods,” the chief said.
One of them forced the alleged victim “to commit a sex act on him,” Batelli said. “No weapon was used, although the victim stated he felt that he was not able to leave.”
They then walked him to a nearby residence, the man told police.
“After refusing to go inside he was then ordered to perform a sex act upon each of the two individuals as they stood alongside the house,” Batelli said. “They then directed him back to the railroad tracks.”
He got back to the Mahwah station around 2 a.m. and discovered that his iPad and $155 were missing from his backpack, the chief said, adding that the man called police about an hour later.
Responding Mahwah officers took him to a local hospital for treatment of an ankle injury, Batelli said.
Although the victim at first wanted to pursue charges, he changed his mind, the chief said.
However, the investigation remains open, he said.
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