Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that Sharmir Modestin, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y. was charged yesterday with impersonating a police officer, kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 27-year-old female exotic dancer in Irvington.
The victim was kidnapped in Newark and driven to Irvington where she was sexually assaulted by two men on July 19, 2011. Yesterday, Assistant Prosecutor Tony Gutierrez authorized conspiracy, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault charges against Modestin. The defendant was also charged with impersonating a police officer. Investigators are in the process of identifying the second suspect.
Modestin is a Brooklyn auxiliary police officer. According to the victim, the second suspect, who was a passenger in the car, identified themselves as police officers when they approached her on the street and abducted her. They drove her from Newark to Irvington, where the sexual assault occurred.
Bail was set at $250,000 by the Honorable Michael A. Petrolle, J.S.C. Modestin is currently being held in the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny. Modestin is the same man charged by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office with kidnap, sexual assault and impersonating a police officer in a North Bergen case.
These are accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they plead guilty or are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
