NJ man, 27, gets 5 years for strangling two women in separate domestic violence attacks
⚠️ An Atlantic County man was sentenced after admitting to strangling two different domestic violence victims.
➡️ Prosecutors said the two assaults happened nearly two years apart in separate police jurisdictions.
🔴 He must serve just over four years before becoming eligible for parole.
HAMILTON (Atlantic) — A repeat domestic violence offender who strangled two different female victims gets a short stint in prison.
Jerry Vargas-Perez, from Mays Landing, was sentenced on Friday by Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Joseph Levin to five years in state prison.
Back in late February, the 27-year-old Vargas-Perez pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree aggravated assault on a domestic violence victim for two separate incidents.
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First domestic violence strangulation happened in Atlantic City
On Nov. 26, 2022, Atlantic City Police responded to a domestic violence call from a residence in the area of Winchester and North Providence avenues.
The victim told officers that her boyfriend, Vargas-Perez, had started an argument that became physical.
Vargas-Perez then pushed her onto a bed, grabbed her by the neck and strangled the woman until she nearly lost consciousness.
Vargas-Perez was arrested on scene, but was released pending court proceedings as that case progressed.
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Second victim was attacked nearly two years later
Nearly two years later in an unrelated incident, on July 6, 2024, Hamilton Township Police responded to a domestic violence call from the Kenwood Court area involving a different victim, but the same offender.
That victim told police that Vargas-Perez started an argument that became physical.
Vargas-Perez placed his hands around the victim’s neck and strangled her until she could not breathe. Vargas-Perez was again arrested on scene.
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Advocates against domestic violence stress that victims who have been previously strangled by an intimate partner face a 750% greater likelihood of being killed by their abuser.
Court records show additional domestic violence-related cases
As part of Vargas-Perez's plea deal, a third charge of aggravated assault on a domestic violence victim from an incident reported on Valentine’s Day 2024 was dismissed, according to court records.
That incident involved one of the survivors that Vargas-Perez admitted to strangling in his guilty plea, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office confirmed to New Jersey 101.5.
Vargas-Perez was also previously arrested in December 2022 for violating a domestic violence restraining order, which was downgraded.
Separately, a charge of making terroristic threats from a September 2022 incident was also downgraded to harassment.
Of his five-year prison term, Vargas-Perez must serve just over four years before being eligible for parole.
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Gallery Credit: Katelyn Leboff
