An investigator who was supposed to support victims of crime has been charged with inappropriate sexual communications with those same victims.
Guilherme H. Jamarino, a 47-year-old of Point Pleasant, faces official misconduct charges after he solicited sexual communications from victims of crime who requested emergency financial support. Jamarino, an investigator for the NJ Victims of Crime Compensation Office, was assigned to investigate applications for support, but instead allegedly solicited sexual messages from four victims of crime in 2021 and 2022.
VCCO fired Jamarino in July 2022.
“The mission of the VCCO is to compassionately serve New Jersey crime victims in a manner that is mindful of the trauma they have suffered and their right to be treated with fairness, compassion and respect,” Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a release. “The alleged conduct of the defendant made a mockery of that mission.”
Officials from the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability brought the charges, and Jamarino faces five to 10 years in prison if convicted.
“As alleged, the evidence revealed that this defendant exploited his position as a VCCO investigator to gain access to – and prey on – vulnerable and traumatized crime victims who, no doubt, were well aware of the sway he held over their ability to obtain the financial assistance they desperately needed to move forward with their lives,” said OPIA Executive Director Drew Skinner.