2004 Media Releases:

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

April 13, 2004

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi announced that Michael Alford, M/44, pleaded guilty today in connection with sexual assaults on five women, punching his lawyer in a courtroom and spitting on a Corrections Officer at the Camden County Correctional Facility.

Alford, of the 500 block of North 30th Street in Camden, N.J., pleaded guilty to four counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault and single counts of Sexual Assault, Aggravated Assault and Subjecting a Law Enforcement Officer to Bodily Fluids. Assistant Prosecutor George Stillwell, Section Chief of the Career Criminal Unit within the Prosecutor's Office, will recommend a sentence of 13 years, including 85 percent to be served without parole eligibility, when Superior Court Judge William J. Cook sentences Alford on July 16, 2004. Alford will also be subject to Megan's Law registration and community supervision for life upon release.


Alford is also eligible for possible court-ordered involuntary civil commitment following his prison term under New Jersey's Violent Sexual Predator Act.

The sexual assaults all took place in Camden between August and November 2000. The defendant was arrested in November 2000 after a victim, who lived near Alford and had seen him previously, was able to lead police to the area of his residence. Camden Police Detective Xemaril Cruz, who investigated that case, realized that Alford fit the description of the suspect in three earlier assaults. Those victims were able to identify the defendant as their attacker as well.

Alford was charged with the fifth assault after a DNA sample from the November assault victim matched a sample from an earlier case in a state database.

"Detective Cruz is to be commended for her alertness and for following through on her suspicions," Sarubbi said. "This is an example of great police work."

Alford also admitted he punched his attorney, Brian Muhlbaier, multiple times in the head on July 1, 2003, in the courtroom of Presiding Criminal Court Judge Linda G. Baxter, during jury selection for the sexual assault trial. He also admitted he spit on a Corrections Officer in December 2003 at the county jail.