Suspect in Lakewood kidnap try first assaulted pregnant girlfriend with baseball bat: cops

A Farmingdale man accused last week of attempting to kidnap a teenaged girl in Lakewood and molesting a separate female victim in Toms River began his alleged crime spree in Burlington County, where he struck his pregnant girlfriend on the head with an aluminum baseball bat, according to police documents.

Quamel Benton, 35, was arrested early Friday morning in Toms River and charged with attempted kidnapping, luring, criminal sexual contact and other offenses related to the incidents in Ocean County the night of March 21 into the early morning of March 22.

He also was charged with an aggravated assault in Willingboro in Burlington County that preceded the Ocean County crimes, authorities said.

An affidavit of probable cause to charge Benton with the aggravated assault, obtained from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, revealed that he is accused of striking his girlfriend over the head with a baseball bat on March 21. The affidavit said the victim was five months pregnant.

Willingboro Officer Jeffrey Xavier said in the affidavit that he responded to a home on Raeburn Lane in the township about 6:21 p.m. on March 21 after police received a call about a domestic incident involving a man striking a woman in the head with a bat.

"Upon arrival, I was met by several children at the front door threshold of the house and also on the staircase inside; all were reporting that their mother was upstairs and unresponsive,'' Xavier wrote in the affidavit.

Xavier went upstairs to the master bedroom on the second floor and found a nude woman laying face-down, bleeding from the head, the affidavit said.

"She was still unresponsive, however conscious and gurgling,'' Xavier wrote in the affidavit. "As I began to render medical aid, I learned that she was also five months pregnant.''

The victim had a cut to the right side of her head that appeared to have been made by a blunt object, Xavier wrote. He said he recovered an aluminum baseball bat with suspected blood on it at the scene.

"Prior to my arrival, the caller already identified the male suspect as Quamel Benton,'' the affidavit said.

"The group of juveniles on location also advised that Quamel was the suspect,'' it said. "They reported that he left the location in the victim's white Nissan SUV.''

A preliminary law enforcement incident report said Benton was known to the victim as an intimate partner. It said he and the victim have more than one child together and that the victim also has a child with someone other than the defendant.

The victim was in critical condition, suffering from a brain bleed, and airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, the affidavit said.

About 7:30 p.m. the same night, Lakewood police were called to the area of Forest Park Circle on a report of an attempted kidnapping. Once there, they learned that a man driving a smaller model white sport-utility vehicle attempted to pull a teenager into the vehicle, according to Lakewood police and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

The girl was able to break free and run home, police said. The perpetrator drove away, but police were able to get a description of him and the vehicle.

About 9 p.m. that night, Toms River police responded to the parking lot of the Target store on Hooper Avenue on a report of a female victim that had been molested. Responding offers learned that a man had approached the victim and grabbed her in an inappropriate manner, authorities said.

The man drove out of the parking lot and onto the Garden State Parkway, heading north, speeding and driving erratically, police said.

Toms River police called off their pursuit of him, but learned Benton was a person of interest in an aggravated assault in Willingboro earlier that evening. They learned that the description of the Willingboro suspect matched that of the person wanted in the Lakewood and Toms River incidents.

About 12:30 a.m. on Friday, Toms River police learned that a man was trying to enter a vehicle occupied by a woman. When they got to the scene, they found Benton, who attempted to flee, but crashed into a utility pole near Route 70 and Whitesville Road and was taken into custody.

Benton is being held at the Burlington County Jail. He faces a detention hearing today in Burlington County Superior Court. He made a virtual first appearance this morning in Ocean County Superior Court before Judge Wendel E. Daniels, who scheduled a detention hearing for him on the Ocean County charges for April 10.

Benton has been charged by Willingboro police with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

In addition to attempted kidnapping, luring and criminal sexual contact, Ocean County authorities have also charged Benton with obstruction of justice, endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of resisting arrest.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Before Lakewood kidnap attempt, suspect hit girlfriend with bat: cops