{"id":44080,"date":"2025-11-18T21:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T21:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/44080\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T21:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T21:07:10","slug":"ex-nj-mayor-andrew-labruno-drugged-sexually-assaulted-child-prosecutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/44080\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex NJ mayor Andrew LaBruno drugged, sexually assaulted child: prosecutors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Democratic ex New Jersey mayor<\/a> and current police sergeant was arrested Monday for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a child he met online, officials announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Jersey City Police Sgt. Andrew LaBruno, 44 \u2014 who unsuccessfully ran for a state assembly seat<\/a> in the Garden State\u2019s election earlier this month \u2014 went to the Englewood home of a child he met online Monday and sprayed \u201can unknown substance into his hand\u201d before \u201cplacing it over the victim\u2019s mouth and nose, causing the victim dizziness,\u201d according to a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

A Democratic New Jersey politician and a police sergeant was arrested Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a child. Facebook\/Andrew LaBruno<\/p>\n

LaBruno, a married dad of two who is the former mayor of the Bergen County town of Dumont<\/a>, then sexually assaulted the child who was \u201cphysically helpless\u201d from the drugging \u2014 all while the victim was home alone, the complaint alleges.<\/p>\n

LaBruno, who ran on the Democratic ticket this year for the 39th legislative district in Bergen County, has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.<\/p>\n

Authorities said they had enough probable cause evidence to arrest LaBruno, including statements he made at the scene of the crime captured on body worn cameras, the victim\u2019s account and \u201ccorroborating physical evidence\u201d taken from the scene and from \u201cactors,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n

Cops responded to the scene after a call was made to 911 and found the victim was suffering from \u201ccognitive impairment,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n

LaBruno is accused of meeting a child online and going to their Englewood home and sexually assaulting them. Bergen County Prosecutor\u0092s Office<\/p>\n

The victim was brought to a local hospital for treatment, the complaint says.<\/p>\n

LaBruno is currently being held without bail in Bergen County Jail and is expected to appear in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack later Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s has been suspended without pay, according to a report by ABC 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately known who was representing LaBruno in the case.<\/p>\n

LaBruno\u2019s campaign website site touts the fact that he\u2019s a family man who has worked in public service for years and founded his own charity.<\/p>\n

LaBruno is a local politician who lost his bid for a seat in the New Jersey State Assembly earlier this month. Facebook\/Andrew LaBruno<\/p>\n

LaBruno was born and raised in Jersey City, where he became a cop in 2005. He is currently a sergeant in the Office of Emergency Management, his website says.<\/p>\n

He has a 16-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter and he founded a town charity, the Dumont Community Group, that runs the Dumont 5k and other events, the campaign page says.<\/p>\n

LaBruno was elected to the Borough Council of Dumont in 2018 and to Dumont mayor in 2019. He served as mayor from 2020 to 2023, the site says.<\/p>\n

LaBruno was interviewed by NJ.com in 2020<\/a> when he was serving as the Dumont Mayor. At the time, he called for a probe to be launched into two Dumont High School teachers who allegedly made a homophobic cracks about a \u201cgay gym teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDumont is a welcoming community and my administration will continue to make progress on committees and boards that recognize our diversity and celebrate our friends, family and neighbors,\u201d the mayor said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Democratic ex New Jersey mayor and current police sergeant was arrested Monday for allegedly drugging and sexually…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3283,8301,11487,57,1066,9,11,10,2137,5161,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-44080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-arrests","9":"tag-child-abuse","10":"tag-jersey-city","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-jersey","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-politicians","17":"tag-sexual-assaults","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}