3-11-2006 New Jersey: UPDATED
An Easton man in a New Jersey state prison for sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl in Phillipsburg in 2002 was strangled late Thursday and found under another inmate's bunk, authorities said Friday. The dead man, Jason Schweitzer, 25, formerly of the 100 block of Northampton Street, Easton, was an inmate at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Burlington County, Department of Corrections spokesman Matthew Schulman said.
Schweitzer's death was ruled a homicide by the Burlington County Medical Examiner's Office. An autopsy completed Friday afternoon showed Schweitzer had been strangled with a rope or some other object.
Corrections officers found his body at 9 p.m. Thursday under a bed in a cell that was not his. "The cells weren't locked down at the time so the inmates were able to mill around," Schuman said. "It was during that period that they found him. "The unit was locked down, and it's still locked down as they investigate," Schuman said.
The homicide was the first officials could recall at the youth facility, located in Chesterfield Township near Bordentown, which houses about 1,300 inmates between 18 and 29 years of age.
It "emphasizes vocational, academic and social programming as well as individual and group psychotherapy, substance abuse treatment, social casework and psychiatric treatment," according to the Corrections Department's Web site.
Schweitzer was sentenced in June 2003 to 8½ to 10 years for sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl in Phillipsburg. ..more.. by by RICK HEPP, The Star-Ledger
Inmate charged in prison death
11-1-2007 New Jersey
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. | A state prison inmate is accused of strangling a fellow prisoner serving time for molesting a 2-year-old in Phillipsburg.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday charged 25-year-old Jesus J. Tamo with murder and hindering apprehension in connection with the killing of Jason Schweitzer, 25, of Easton.
Schweitzer's body was found beneath the bunk inside Tamo's cell at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Chesterfield, N.J. on March 9, 2006. An autopsy found that Schweitzer had been strangled, authorities said.
The killing took place in a cellblock occupied by 47 prisoners at a time when inmates could move around and go into and out of each other's cells, according to authorities.
Authorities allege that Tamo invited Schweitzer into his cell, then assaulted and strangled him. Schweitzer's body was found in Tamo's cell during a search started after Schweitzer failed to report for his scheduled medication call, authorities said.
Authorities have given no motive for the killing.
Schweitzer was serving a minimum term of eight and a half years for the 2002 sexual assault in Warren County. Tamo is serving a minimum term of six and three-quarters years for an aggravated assault conviction out of Middlesex County, according to state Department of Corrections records.
Tamo is being held at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.
If convicted of the killing, Tamo faces an additional 30 years to life in prison, authorities said. ..more.. by MICHAEL RATCLIFFE, The Times of Trenton
Prisoner admits to slaying of fellow inmate in Burlco
6-25-2011 New Jersey:
MOUNT HOLLY — A state prisoner admitted Friday that he strangled a fellow inmate at a corrections facility in Bordentown Township.
Jesus Tamo, 28, plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter at a Superior Court hearing in Mount Holly.
Authorities said Tamo killed Jason Schweitzer, a 25-year-old sex offender, after inviting the victim into his cell at the Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in March 2006.
The inmate's body was found under Tamo's bunk after Schweitzer failed to appear for a scheduled medication call.
Schweitzer was serving a 10-year sentence after a 2003 conviction for the aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 years old, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Tamo received an eight-year sentence after a 2004 conviction for aggravated assault in Monmouth County.
The slaying occurred at a medium-security facility for men between the ages of 18 and 29.
Tamo initially was charged with Schweitzer's murder. Under terms of a plea agreement, he faces a recommended sentence of 20 years in state prison.
He would have to serve 17 years before becoming eligible for parole, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.
Tamo is to be sentenced Sept. 23 by Superior Court Judge Michael Haas. ..Source.. by JIM WALSH
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