Bally’s Atlantic City Housekeeper Attacker Convicted, Case Spurred Panic Button Bill
Posted on: April 1, 2022, 03:23h. 
Final updated on: April 1, 2022, 03:23h.
A Saugerties, NY man who sexually assaulted a housekeeper at Bally’s Atlantic City is facing a possible life sentence, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Workplace says.
On Thursday, a jury discovered 36-year-old Jamel Carlton guilty of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, burglary, aggravated assault, and criminal restraint in relation to the 2018 attack in a hotel room at the home. Carlton had also been picked up by police for assaulting his girlfriend at the casino earlier the identical day.
The case, and other individuals like it, hastened the enactment of legislation a year later that mandated wearable panic buttons for New Jersey hotel workers.
Double Attack
Carlton was initially arrested at around 5:30am on February ten, 2018, for domestic assault, soon after Bally’s security officers had to restrain him from attacking his 41-year-old girlfriend.
The woman bore indicators of physical injury and was treated at the scene by healthcare private, according to the arrest report.
Carlton was charged with straightforward assault and released at about 9 am with a summons to appear in court at a later date.
But somehow, he was allowed to return to the hotel. There, he pushed a 51-year-old housekeeper into a area, exactly where he sexually and physically assaulted her, according to court filings.
The victim was treated in a nearby hospital for her injuries. But she was traumatized and unable to return to perform, according to a colleague, who was interviewed in 2019 by The Press of Atlantic City.
Safety video at the casino helped investigators identify Carlton as a suspect. He was spotted by police officers walking along Atlantic Avenue at 1:44pm and an arrest was attempted. But Carlton fled, leading police on a many-block chase before he was eventually taken into custody.
Criminal History
The Prosecutor’s Workplace said Carton faces an “extended term of imprisonment up to life in New Jersey State Prison” simply because of his criminal history, which involves robbery and armed burglary of a restaurant. He will be sentenced in June.
“We are grateful to the jury for seeing this case for what it was, the senseless and brutal sexual assault of a Bally’s housekeeper who was just doing her job,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Flammer stated. “The victim by way of the help of her loving household displayed an huge quantity of strength in coming to court to inform the jury what that man did to her.”
New Jersey was the initial state to enact a panic button mandate, which applies to hotels with a lot more than 100 rooms. Shortly after Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill into law by, Ben Albert, an official with Regional 54 of the Unite-Here union, told NBC that housekeepers had turn out to be “enraged” by Carlton’s crime and demanded action.