East Orange man charged with sex assault, kidnapping, burglaries in Morristown

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From the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office:

MAN ARRESTED FOR JAN. 18TH INCIDENT INVOLVING KIDNAPPING AND AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT, AS WELL AS A STRING OF BURGLARIES IN LATE 2017 IN MORRISTOWN.

Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp and Morristown Bureau of Police Chief Peter Demnitz announce the arrest of Brian Session, age forty-seven (47) of East Orange, New Jersey, on numerous charges related to a kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault that occurred in Morristown on Jan. 18, 2018, as well as a string of residential burglaries that occurred in Morristown in November and December 2017.

During the early afternoon of Jan. 18, 2018, the Morristown Bureau of Police responded to an apartment building on a report of a sexual assault.

The investigation subsequently revealed that an adult female returned home from shopping and came upon an unknown male in her apartment. During the course of the interaction between the two, the male demanded an ATM pin number for a credit card and broke various electronics belonging to the victim.

The victim was attacked with a taser and forcibly bound. The victim was ultimately sexually assaulted. After the assault, the male left the victim’s apartment, taking an amount of cash and a credit card from the victim. The victim was able to subsequently free herself, escape and notify police.

During the course of the investigation into this incident, Detectives were able to obtain a description of the male assailant from the victim. They were also able to obtain surveillance footage depicting a male fitting the actor’s description.

The surveillance footage captured this male in the area of the incident around the time of these crimes. Surveillance footage also captured a vehicle with distinctive characteristics around the time of this incident that was suspected to be involved.

As a result of this investigation, the Defendant, Brian Session, was identified as a potential suspect. Session was known to operate a vehicle fitting the description of the vehicle captured on surveillance footage.

It was also determined that a cellular phone believed to be utilized by Session was in the Morristown area around the time of this incident.

During subsequent searches related to the investigation, various additional items of evidence were recovered that linked Session to this crime, including a taser, and an article of clothing consistent with the clothing worn by the actor.

Session was ultimately charged with various crimes related to the Jan. 18th incident, including 1st degree Kidnapping, multiple counts of 1st degree Aggravated Sexual Assault, 2nd degree counts of Sexual Assault, Burglary and Robbery, as well as 3rd degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, 4th degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, and 4th degree Theft by Unlawful Taking.

In addition to the charges related to the Jan. 18th incident, Session was also charged for his involvement in a string of residential burglaries that had occurred in Morristown in November and December 2017. These residential burglaries are alleged to have occurred at various apartments within 12 Ridgedale Ave. and 34 Hill St. in Morristown.

The Ridgedale Avenue burglaries are alleged to have occurred on or about Nov. 15th and/or 16th, 2017 and involved the forcible entry into numerous apartments.

At some of these locations, items were stolen from the apartments, while others involved only attempts to enter the apartment. In total, Session has been charged with three (3) counts of 3rd degree Burglary, one (1) count of 3rd degree Theft by Unlawful Taking, one (1) count of 4th degree Theft by Unlawful Taking, and three (3) counts of 3rd degree Attempted Burglary.

The Hill Street burglaries are alleged to have occurred on or about Dec. 5, 2017, and also involved the forcible entry into two apartments. At each of the locations, items were stolen from the apartments. In total, Session has been charged with two (2) counts of 3rd degree Burglary, and two (2) counts of 3rd degree Theft by Unlawful Taking.

Brian Session was arrested on Jan. 19, 2018 and subsequently charged during the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 2018. He was remanded to the Morris County Correctional Facility on a warrant-complaint in accordance with the Criminal Justice Reform Act.

The investigation into the Jan. 18th incident was led by Detectives from the Morristown Bureau of Police and the Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

These Detectives were assisted in their efforts by numerous other agencies and units, to include the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, and the Special Operations Division and Major Crimes Unit of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

Anyone with information related to any of these incidents is strongly encouraged to contact the Morristown Bureau of Police at 973-538-2200, the Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-285-6200 or Crimestoppers at 973- COP-CALL (973-267-2255).

The charges and allegations against this Defendant are merely accusations, and this Defendant is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty.

12 COMMENTS

  1. The mayor doesn’t allow bad press ie, anything about crimes that happen everyday in town to get put out to the public.

  2. Penelope,

    The statement you made about how you say Morristown is crime-free to other people is how a lot of people in this town feel and its unfortunate. They live in this bubble with not a care in the world and I don’t blame them because nothing is made public. But people cannot live knowing or thinking nothing will happen.

  3. Daily record had a good article about the public not being informed of the burglaries. I dont know who dropped the balled but i can say with almost 100% certainty that the mayor isnt taking the blame

  4. I don’t believe that the Mayor is responsible for “bad things” happening — the criminal is responsible for that. What I’m saying is that a better system of reporting things should be in place. I know that I subscribe to Nixle which Morristown and neighboring towns (Township) use to report accidents, construction activity, etc, so there is something in place that could be used as a platform to report burglaries and a suspicious vehicle connected to these crimes. To think this criminal was WAITING IN HER APARTMENT when she got there — can you imagine that?? I’m always boasting about how great and crime-free our town is to other people (especially to those who live in Newark), and this article just made me eat my words. Glad this is over, let’s do better next time.

  5. Mr mayor does not want bad stuff being made public cuz it will make him look bad, im sure the police dept has a gag order of some sort.

  6. Imagine if people were told about the break-ins in November and December. Imagine if people were told to watch for an unfamiliar Chevy Tahoe in their neighborhood. This could have turned out differently. Don’t forget that when seconds count the police are minutes away.

  7. They ask in the article if anyone has information to call….post a picture of the suspect in case someone saw him around the street or the apartment would be helpful. Please post mugshot.

  8. Doesn’t the police department have a Twitter page or Facebook page that they can brief residents on things that are going on?

  9. No you didnt miss it. The wonderful town administration and the best mayor in the county prevent info about crimes from going public. If the town resident only knew what went on…

  10. Completely agree with Penelope. It seems to me the staff at Morristown Green is more concerned with promoting sponsors, reposting press releases from Drew or St Elizabeth’s and harassing representative Frelinghuysen than doing basic community reporting.

  11. … did I miss the memo where these burglaries were reported?? This poor woman was raped by a man that perhaps could’ve been stopped had more people knew these break-ins were occurring in town. We need to do better with communicating these things for everyone’s safety.

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