Farmingdale Man Pleads Guilty In Kidnap Attempt, Sex Assault Spree

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Monmouth County man has pleaded guilty to several charges in connection with an attempted kidnapping and a string of events that happened in March, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Quamel J. Benton, 36, pled guilty to attempted kidnapping, two counts of eluding, and criminal sexual contact before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Benton, whose mailing address is in Farmingdale, admitted to the incidents that happened in Lakewood and Toms River on March 21 and 22, starting with his attempt to pull a teenage girl in Lakewood into his vehicle about 7:30 p.m. on March 21.

The girl was able to break away from Benton and escape the kidnapping attempt on Forest Park Circle in Lakewood, Billhimer said. As she ran home, the driver — later identified as Benton — drove off in a smaller-model white SUV, authorities said.

About 9 p.m., as police were searching for the SUV and driver, Toms River police answered a report of a woman being sexually assaulted in the parking lot at Target, Billhimer said. The woman told police a man approached her and grabbed her "in an inappropriate manner" then took off. Toms River police were able to identify the suspect and followed him as he fled from the Target parking lot.

Benton took off at high speed and got on the Garden State Parkway northbound, and the pursuit was terminated because he was driving erratically, Billhimer said.

Police were able to get his license plate number and learned Benton, who was believed to be driving the SUV, also was a person of interest in an aggravated assault in Willingboro that had happened earlier in the day, Billhimer said.

At about 12:40 a.m. Friday, Toms River police were called after a man tried to get into a vehicle occupied by a woman, and the officers were able to identify Benton as the man trying to get into the vehicle, he said.

Benton tried to take off again but as Toms River police pursued him, Benton lost control and crashed into a utility pole at Whitesville Road and Route 70. He got out of the SUV and tried to run but Toms River officers chased him down and caught him, Billhimer said.

Sentencing in Ocean County is scheduled for Dec. 6, and Billhimer said prosecutors will be requesting a seven-year prison sentence on the attempted kidnapping charge, subject to the No Early Release Act. Prosecutors also will be requesting five-year sentences for each eluding charge and 18 months in prison on the criminal sexual contact charge, authorities said.

The attempted kidnapping charge and one of the eluding charges are to run concurrently, while the criminal sexual contact charge and the second eluding charge are to run consecutively, authorities said.

Benton also is charged in Burlington County with attempted murder, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, endangering an injured victim and five counts of neglecting a child, in an incident that happened earlier in the day on March 21, authorities said.

Authorities there say Benton is accused of hitting a woman in the head with a baseball bat in the home they shared in Willingboro. Police responding to a report of a disturbance found the woman with a severe head wound, and she was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

The investigation revealed that after beating the woman, Benton took off in her vehicle, leaving young children alone in the home.

The Asbury Park Press reported Benton the woman was his girlfriend, and she was pregnant at the time of the attack. The report said he used an aluminum bat to hit her, and it was Benton's 14-year-old son, the oldest of five children, who called 911 to report the attack.

Benton's attorney said Benton believes he was drugged and said the incidents were "out of character," that report said.

Those charges remain active. Benton has been held in the Burlington County Jail since his arrest in March.