Paroled NJ rapist convicted of sexual assault in home invasion

🚨 A man has been found guilty at trial for a home invasion

🚨 It happened four months after he was released from prison

🚨 The rapist was previously convicted of another sexual assault

ASBURY PARK — A man who raped a 15-year-old girl nearly two decades ago has been convicted of sexual assault again for a terrifying home invasion in Monmouth County.

Shawn Connolly, 36, of Asbury Park was found guilty Thursday for the early morning attack on Sept. 14, 2021. He was convicted on charges including first-degree aggravated sexual assault, first-degree armed robbery, second-degree burglary, second-degree sexual assault, third-degree terroristic threats, and three weapons offenses.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago touted the verdict in a statement Friday.

“The facts revealed at trial were deeply unsettling, and we’re pleased that the jury reached the appropriate conclusion, winning justice for the victims and the community at large," Santiago said.

Connolly faces life in prison for the conviction. He also still faces separate charges related to another home invasion earlier that morning, according to Santiago.

Asbury Park, NJ couple wakes up to knife-wielding home invader

On Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, Connolly broke into a home on 7th Avenue in Asbury Park shortly before 5:30 a.m., prosecutors said to the Monmouth County jury.

The victims, a man and a woman, woke up to find the convict in their bedroom. He had climbed through a kitchen window to get inside the home.

Connolly, who was holding a knife, told the male victim to leave the room and get money for him. As he left the room, the man called 911 and left the line open, according to authorities.

After the male victim left the room, Connolly sexually assaulted the woman.

Soon after, the Asbury Park police got to the home and arrested Connolly. They found the stolen cash in his pockets.

He was taken to Monmouth County jail where he remained until last week's trial.

Prior conviction for sexual assault

Connolly spent most of his life between April 2008 and May 2021 in state prison, according to Department of Corrections records. He was released on parole that May.

For the majority of that time, Connolly was serving a sentence for a sexual assault in 2006. The horrific details of the Sept. 14, 2021 attack are eerily similar to the first attack nearly two decades ago, the Asbury Park Press reported.

At the age of 19, Connolly broke into a 15-year-old girl's house in Keansburg.

He raped the girl and then was chased and caught by the teen girl's brother, according to the report.

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