Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                              *News Release*                 Date: August 16, 2011
 
 

       

 

 

 

 

Volunteer instructor charged with sex assault

 

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and South Plainfield Police Chief James Parker announced today that a religious instructor from Brooklyn, N.Y. has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old female.

 

          Matthew Nesbitt, also known as Islam Abualwaan, (DOB 1/13/85) was arrested at about 1 a.m. on August 13, 2011, in Piscataway, with the assistance of members of the Piscataway Police Department, and was charged with one count of sexual assault.

 

          He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $200,000 bail. He is required to post the full amount, rather than 10 percent, before he can be released from custody.

 

Nesbitt was arrested after Investigator Robert Torrisi of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Detective Christopher Colucci of the South Plainfield Police Department determined that the defendant sexually assaulted the female in Piscataway on July 15, 2011.

 

          At the time, Nesbitt volunteered as an Islamic studies instructor at the Al-Minhaal Academy in South Plainfield. He began there in March, but was dismissed at the end of the school year in June.

 

          Anyone with information on this, or similar incidents, is asked to contact Investigator Torrisi of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3636, or Detective Colucci of the South Plainfield Police Department at (908) 755-0700.

 

          As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charge against Nesbitt is merely an accusation and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.