MORRIS COUNTY — Amit Bhatt, a former Parsippany-Troy Hills resident, was convicted after a three-day trial. The married 43-year-old accountant still faces a charge of possessing child porn in Bergen County.
A Morris County jury found Amit Bhatt guilty of all charges related to an aggravated sexual assault that occurred on October 28, 2017, in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township.
The guilty verdict was reached following a three-day trial on January 27. The defendant was found guilty of first-degree Aggravated Sexual Assault, second-degree Sexual Assault, and third-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
A sentencing date has been scheduled for March 17 before the Honorable Ralph Amirata, J.S.C. The defendant will remain in custody until that time and was detained on Bergen County charges involving the possession of child sexual abuse material yesterday. At sentencing, the Aggravated Sexual Assault and Sexual Assault convictions are subject to the No Early Release Act (NERA), which makes the defendant ineligible for parole until he has served 85% of the sentence imposed.
As the Jessica Lunsford Act requires, the defendant must receive a sentence between 25 years and life imprisonment. He must serve 25 years or more before becoming eligible for parole on the Aggravated Sexual Assault charge.
The charges arose from an incident that occurred on October 28, 2017, in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, wherein the defendant performed sex acts on and touched the inner thigh of an eight-year-old child. Members of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes & Child Endangerment Unit investigated the incident after being notified of the victim’s disclosure by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office on January 11, 2022.
Prosecutor Carroll would like to thank and acknowledge the agencies that participated in the investigation which led to the successful guilty verdict, including the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Police Department, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes & Child Endangerment Unit. The Prosecutor also credited the Trial Team, Assistant Prosecutor Vanessa I. Craveiro and Assistant Prosecutor Taylor Sharofsky, with their professional and dedicated service; and commended MCPO Sex Crimes & Child Endangerment Unit Detective Sergeant Lydia Negron and Detective Lamar Hagans, and Detective Jermaine Pledger of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department, and all others who contributed to the investigation and successful prosecution in this case.
