2003 Media Releases:

CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
VINCENT P. SARUBBI, CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
MEDIA   INFORMATION

February 4, 2003

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi announced today that Joseph R. Strang Jr., M/45, pleaded guilty to two counts of Sexual Assault. Strang, a former assistant to the pastor at the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Gloucester City, admitted fondling a 12-year-old male on various dates between September 2001 and September 2002. The defendant, of the unit block of North 24th Street in Camden, also admitted digitally penetrating a 14-year-old female in April or May of 2002.

The pleas were entered on Monday, Feb. 3, 2003, in front of Superior Court Judge John T. McNeill III. The attacks against the boy occurred at a residence in Camden. The attack against the girl, who was a church member, occurred at the church.

Donna Spinosi, Section Chief of the Child Abuse Unit within the Prosecutor's Office, will recommend a sentence of five years in New Jersey State Prison when Strang is sentenced on June 6, 2003. Please note that this sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act (NERA), making the defendant ineligible for parole for 85 percent of the term, or four years and three months, under the recommended prison term.

Following the plea, Judge McNeill revoked bail and Strang was returned to the Camden County Correctional Facility.