MCPO Commends Staff Members for Efforts on Fugitive Sex Crimes Case

Published on July 08, 2021

On July 8, 2021, Acting Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood and Chief of Detectives Christoph Kimker presented commendations to members of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office investigative, legal and support staff teams, Roxbury Police Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol for their efforts securing the prosecution of Richard A. Ziegler, who was sentenced last May after being a fugitive from justice for almost 30 years.

Richard A. Ziegler was apprehended in Oneida, Tennessee in 2020 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol - Criminal Investigations Division after using falsified documents to obtain a driver's license in Tennessee under an assumed identity. Zeigler was subsequently charged by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office with sexual offenses involving minor victims that took place in the Township of Roxbury between December 1981 and May 1987.

Ziegler entered a guilty plea to two (2) counts of second degree Sexual Assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2B) on April 20, 2021 before the Hon. David H. Ironson, J.S.C. Ziegler was sentenced to ten (10) years in New Jersey State Prison on May 28, 2021.

Acting Prosecutor Carroll presented commendations to Supervising Assistant Prosecutor LaJuan Tucker, Roxbury Police Detective Corporal William Manisa, MCPO Sgt. Anne-Marie Truppo, and Victim Witness Supervisor Amanda Holloway, and to Sgt. Jonathan Scott of the Tennessee Highway Patrol via video conference.

Acting Prosecutor Carroll said, “Ziegler remained a fugitive from justice for over 30 years. Intensive follow-up by members of the MCPO and Tennessee Highway Patrol resulted in new information and a positive identification. Had it not been for the individual and coordinated efforts of Sgt. Jonathan Scott of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, MCPO Sgt. Anne-Marie Truppo, Supervising Assistant Prosecutor LaJuan Tucker and Roxbury Police Department Det. William Manisa, the victims would still be without justice and closure. Supervisor Holloway took the initiative to research and provide the victims with support in the states where they live.”

 

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Left to right: Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of Detectives Chris Kimker, Supervising Assistant Prosecutor LaJuan Tucker, Roxbury Police Detective Corporal William Manisa, MCPO Sgt. Anne-Marie Truppo, Acting Prosecutor Robert Carroll, Victim Witness Supervisor Amanda Holloway, First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood, and Victim Witness Coordinator Donna Pasquariello.