Jesse Goodman - Repeat Sex Offender - Pleads Guilty

A Hunterdon County man, required to register as a sex offender following a 2004 Middlesex County conviction, has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Union County girl.

Jesse Goodman, 30, of Annandale pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual assault and criminal sexual contact. He faces up to eight years in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 4 by Union County Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim, sitting in Elizabeth.

Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow said Goodman's plea comes just over a week after he was indicted for having an improper relationship with the teenage girl.

In September 2008, Goodman, a registered sex offender, allegedly met a 14-year-old girl on a social networking web site aimed at teenagers, according to Assistant Prosecutor David Hummel. Their relationship turned physical and Goodman traveled to Union County a number of times to engage in sex acts with the 14-year-old girl. He also drove her to his home in Hunterdon County and to his father's business in Stirling where they also allegedly had sex.

Police were notified after the girl told a parent about the relationship. An investigation was conducted by the Union County Prosecutor's Office and Summit Police Department. Goodman was arrested in March 2009.

In October 2004 Goodman was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child in Middlesex County and required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law.

Goodman is currently being held at the Hunterdon County Jail.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte