JANUARY 9, 2008

NJ TRANSIT DRIVER ARRESTED FOR KIDNAPPING,
CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONTACT  

TRENTON -- A New Jersey Transit bus driver who made sexual advances toward a 17-year-old female passenger whom he held on a bus against her will was arrested yesterday, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. announced. 

Rico Exford, 37, of Philadelphia, was taken into custody yesterday when he arrived at work in Camden.  He was transported to the Trenton Police Department by Detective William Sweeney of the NJ Transit police for processing.  He is charged with kidnapping, aggravated criminal sexual contact and official misconduct. 

After pulling his bus over on Raoul Wallenberg Avenue in Trenton during the evening of January 3, 2008, Exford locked the bus doors and proceeded to touch the victim’s inner thigh, breasts and buttocks.  When the victim resisted, Exford unlocked the doors and released the victim. 

The arrest was a result of an investigation conducted by the Trenton Police Department and the prosecutor’s Child Abuse/Sexual Assault Unit. 

Exford is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $50,000 bail. 

Despite having been charged, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.