Suspect’s girlfriend charged with
hindering apprehension
BY CAROLYN O’CONNELL
Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — Earlest Gordon, 33, of Fifth Avenue was arrested Oct. 20 and charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

City police sought Gordon after the victim and the mother of the minor reported the crime on Oct. 17, according to Lt. Bruce Johantgen.

Gordon who is not related to the minor, had been a frequent visitor to the minor’s home and had at one point lived in the home, according to Johantgen.

After the allegations were made, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Long Branch Detective Kevin Condon conducted interviews with both the mother and the minor and determined that the allegations warranted an arrest.

After complaints were signed against Gordon, detectives searched for him until late the same evening but were not able to locate him. The detectives were able to speak with family members who "vowed to have him surrender to the authorities," said Johantgen.

Three days later, on Oct. 20, detectives investigating the case developed information that Gordon was staying with his 18-year-old girlfriend at her Rockwell Avenue residence.

Officers Lance Fanning, Heather Valdes, Joshua Bard and Michael Decker responded to the residence and spoke with a woman there who acknowledged that she was dating Gordon, but said she had not seen him for several days and didn’t know where he was, according to Johantgen.

While officers were speaking with the woman, Stacie Hart, they heard Fanning call over the police radio that Gordon had just jumped out of a second-story window of the Rockwell Avenue residence and was heading northwest toward Fifth Avenue.

Fanning pursued Gordon on foot but lost sight of him once inside a newly built housing development on Spruce Street, said Johantgen.

After officers conducted a thorough search of the area and came up empty-handed, they returned to the woman’s home and arrested and charged her with hindering the apprehension of Gordon. She was released on a summons.

Later that morning, at approximately 9 a.m., Condon, along with officer Jeffrey Pilone, went to Gordon’s residence on Fifth Avenue to try and locate him.

While Condon was at the front of the residence speaking with a family member, Pilone, who was guarding the back of the house, spotted Gordon running from the residence and scaling a fence, according to police.

Pilone followed Gordon over the fence and was able to grab him before he made it over a second fence, according to police.

Gordon was transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township and is being held on $150,000 bail.