Hazlet Man Admits Sexually Assaulting Elderly Nursing Home Patient In His Care

Todd Fulton, 43, a certified nursing assistant from Hazlet, pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually assaulting a female patient who was in his care at the then Monmouth County owned Geraldine Thompson Care Center in Wall Township in 2015, according to an announcement by Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

A Monmouth County Grand Jury indicted Fulton on last month for first degree Aggravated Sexual Assault, one count of second degree Sexual Assault and one count of second degree Official Misconduct. He pleaded guilty to one count of second degree Sexual Assault and one count of second degree Official Misconduct before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Thomas F. Scully.

The defendant has been incarcerated without bail at the Monmouth County Correctional Institute in Freehold since February 16, 2017.

The Prosecutor’s Office will will recommend Fulton be sentenced to seven years in a New Jersey state prison on the Sexual Assault charge. The sentence will be subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA) requiring him to serve 85 percent of his sentence prior to being considered for release on parole. The recommendation will ask the judge to impose a five-year prison term with a five-year period of parole ineligibility on the Official Misconduct charge. The sentence would be served concurrently with the sentence for the sexual assault. Once released from prison, Fulton will be subject to Parole Supervision for Life and Megan’s Law.

On April 4, 2015, the administrative staff of the nursing home reported to the Wall Township Police that an elderly female patient disclosed she had been sexually assaulted by a member of the staff. The victim was not able to identify her assailant at the time of the disclosure. Fulton was identified as her alleged assailant through an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey State Police Forensic Laboratory and the Wall Township police.