MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J. — A 21-year-old Rutgers University student has been charged in connection with more than a dozen incidents of lewdness and criminal sexual contact reported over the past year in South Brunswick and on the Rutgers University campus in Piscataway, authorities said.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrest of Jihad Goines, of Monmouth Junction, who is accused of engaging in lewd acts at the Royal Oaks Apartment Complex in South Brunswick and inside the Dickson Carr Library on Rutgers University’s Busch Campus.
According to investigators, reports of lewd behavior near the apartment complex began in November 2023. Similar incidents at the university’s library were reported between October and December 2024, leading to an investigation by the Rutgers University Police Department.
Authorities identified Goines as a suspect in the library incidents and later linked him to the South Brunswick cases. On December 5, Goines was arrested without incident and charged with three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact and seven counts of lewdness, a disorderly persons offense.
The investigation remains active, and law enforcement officials are asking anyone with additional information to contact Detective Ashley Blackwell of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3465, Officer Jamal Benbow of the South Brunswick Police Department at 732-329-4646, or Detective Edwin Tejada of the Rutgers University Police Department at 732-932-7211.
A Rutgers student faces multiple charges following months-long investigations into incidents on and off campus.
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