UNION CITY AND BEYOND – Union City Chief Brian Barrett and several police officers caught a Hoboken man charged with aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and burglary of a Union City woman hours after the alleged incident Monday morning thanks to local surveillance cameras, Barrett said Wednesday.
At 2:22 a.m. on 7th Street’s 700 block, Alex Duenas, 55, allegedly grabbed a 27-year-old victim by the throat and dragged her before allegedly pulling her onto a staircase on the street, punching her, and demanding her property, Barrett said.
Duenas then allegedly held her down while smacking her and began to masturbate.
Barrett said that according to the criminal complaint, Duenas allegedly forced her to perform a sexual act before he allegedly took the victim’s belongings and money and fleeing the scene.
Barrett was notified when the call came in because of the severity of the incident, and he and his officers watched videos captured by city controlled cameras on Summit Avenue. They saw the suspect allegedly cross the CVS parking lot toward Eighth Street and turn toward Kennedy Boulevard.
Barrett and other plainclothes officers then patrolled the area beginning at 3 a.m. with a photo of the suspect taken from the videos, and found the person they believe matched the photos sitting on a stoop eating, he said. When they identified themselves, the man allegedly handed them the victim’s debit card, and he was placed under arrest without incident at 5:48 a.m.
The victim received treatment for injuries at Jersey City’s Christ Hospital where the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit met up with her, Barrett confirmed.
Duenas appeared at Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City on Tuesday. As he is under indictment on prior burglary charges and allegedly failed to show up to a hearing scheduled in March, his bail has been set at $10,000 cash for that charge only, Barrett confirmed.