🚨A Hunterdon County man is charged after police said he assaulted a teen

🚨Prosecutors said the man sent an Uber to pick the teen up

🚨The teen told police she blacked out and later sought help at a nearby home

TEWKSBURY — Officials said a man sexually assaulted a teen in the woods after sending an Uber to pick her up and then leaving her passed out in the woods.

After communicating on the app Wizz, Mateo Liriano, 21, of Tewksbury invited the teen to a party, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée M. Robeson.

Liriano, according to Robeson, sent an Uber to meet the teen on May 22 and told her they could not go inside. Instead, the prosecutor’s office said they walked along the road and drank alcohol until the Uber driver left. As the teen became intoxicated, Robeson said Liriano directed the teen into a wooded area so he could show her something there.

According to Robeson, he issued commands of a sexual nature to the teen once inside the woods. The teen tried to stop and put her clothes back on, but Liriano forced her to drink more alcohol and forced a sexual act on her while placing his arm around her neck and applying pressure, the prosecutor’s office said.

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Map shows location of Tewksbury in Hunterdon Township

Map shows location of Tewksbury in Hunterdon Township (Google Maps/Canva)

Evidence backs victim’s account

The teen said she told Liriano to stop multiple times and tried to get away, but he grabbed her by the arms and hair and told her not to leave, according to police. The teen blacked out because of the large amount of alcohol she drank and woke up at night in the pitch black of the woods wearing only a sweatshirt that was not hers, officials said. She knocked on a door on Hasley Farm Road for help.

Investigators were able to obtain records from Uber for the initial ride and found a broken fence in the woods. Officials said they also found the victim’s purse and personal items in a pond near Liriano’s home.

Liriano was charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-and-second degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and fourth-degree endangering. He is being held at the Hunterdon County Jail and has a detention hearing on Monday.

Ernesto Cerimele, Esq. is representing Liriano.

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