New Jersey man pleads guilty to pair of assaults that took place in Toms River
⚖️ Newark man pleads guilty to pair of assaults in Toms River
⚖️ He held a woman against her will at Howard Johnson hotel and James Street Apartment
⚖️ The woman who was threatened had been in a relationship with him
A Newark man has plead guilty to a pair of assaults in Toms River in November of 2020.
Deshaun Porter, 29, forced his way into a room at the Howard Johnson hotel along Hooper Avenue in Toms River on Nov. 3, 2020, threatened everyone inside with a handgun and then used the weapon to strike a woman in the face, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer.
Three days later, he was holding the same woman he was in a relationship with hostage and against her will at an apartment on James Street.
Toms River Police arrived at the scene around 9:00 am and Porter was nowhere to be found.
The investigation bore information that Porter was holding her hostage around 4:00 am at gunpoint and refused to let her leave the apartment.
A warrant was issued for Porter's arrest, which came about a month later, on Dec. 9 in Atlantic City by the U.S. Marshal's Service, Atlantic City Metro Task Force, and New Jersey State Police, according to the OCPO.
Porter has remained in the Ocean County Jail since his arrest.
He was later charged with and has now pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, two counts of being a certain person not to possess a weapon, and possession a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
At Porter's June sentencing, Billhimer said the State will recommend seven years in prison for aggravated assault, five years with a five-year period of parole ineligibility for the certain person charges, and five years without a parole ineligibility period of 42 months for the possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose charge, and they would run concurrently.
Prosecutor Billhimer said that Ocean County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Schron and Assistant Prosecutor Alyssa Mandara are handling the case on behalf of the State.