*News
Release* Date: June 11, 2010
Middlesex
County Prosecutor’s Office
Ex-rescue squad worker charged with sex assaults
Middlesex
County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and Acting Chief Paul Brembt of the South
Plainfield Police Department announced today that a former borough rescue squad
worker has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting two males in
separate incidents.
Ronald Sward (DOB 12/25/63) of Matis Street in
South Plainfield was arrested on June 7, 2010, and was charged with aggravated
sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Sward, who resigned on June 7, 2010 from his
post as the deputy chief of the South Plainfield Rescue Squad, was charged
after an investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the
South Plainfield Police Department determined he sexually assaulted an
8-year-old boy over an eight-year period, beginning in 2001.
An
additional count of sexual assault was filed today against the defendant after
the investigation by Detective Daryl Strother of the
South Plainfield Police Department and Investigator Frank DiNinno of the
Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that Sward sexually assaulted a
17-year-old male on various occasions in South Plainfield and Woodbridge
between January 2010 and May 2010.
The
investigation also determined that Seward knew both victims.
Sward,
who had been a member of the first aid squad for about 10 years, is being held
at the
The
judge ruled the defendant must post the full amount before he can be released
from custody.
Anyone
with information on these, or similar, incidents is asked to call Detective Strother of the South Plainfield Police Department at (908)
755-0700, or Investigator DiNinno of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office
at (732) 745-3600.
As
is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Sward are merely
accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.