JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A 46-year-old Orange man has been arrested and charged over the sexual assault of a woman who told police she was followed for several blocks on a Jersey City street last month, Hudson County Prosecutor Wayne Mello announced. Franklin Martinez was taken into custody at his Orange home on Thursday, November 12, and charged with second-degree sexual assault and third-degree aggravated assault, the prosecutor's office said. He was also processed as a fugitive from justice out of New York. The charges are allegations: Martinez is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in a court of law.
Source: Englebrook Independent News, reporting Hudson County Prosecutor's Office
The October 17 attack on Wallis Avenue
The Jersey City Police Department was notified of a sexual assault on Wallis Avenue shortly before 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2026, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. The woman — an adult, whose name authorities have not released — reported that an unknown man followed her for several blocks before sexually assaulting her. The prosecutor's office has provided no additional details about the alleged attack itself, and Awaaz Punjab is not publishing any detail beyond the official account.
A photograph, a description and a public appeal
The case was investigated by the prosecutor's Special Victims Unit. Investigators described the man they were seeking as standing approximately 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, with dark facial hair, and released a photograph of the person of interest, asking the public to help identify him, TomsRiver.org and N'Cuffs reported at the time. Anyone with information was asked to call the Special Victims Unit at 201-915-1234, with information kept confidential. That appeal stayed open for nearly four weeks before Thursday's arrest.
Source: TomsRiver.org, reporting Hudson County Prosecutor's Office
The prosecutor's office has not explained how Martinez was identified, has released no further detail about the October 17 attack, and has not said what the New York fugitive-from-justice processing relates to. None of that should be guessed at: the only facts announced so far are the charges, the arrest and the agencies involved.
The arrest in Orange
Members of the United States Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and the prosecutor's Special Victims Unit apprehended Martinez at his residence in Orange, in Essex County, on November 12, the prosecutor's office said. After the arrest he was transported to the Hudson County Correctional Facility, where he was processed on the charges and detained pending his first court appearance.
Prosecutor Mello credited his office's Special Victims Unit, Major Case Unit, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Special Operations and Crime Scene Unit for their work on the investigation. The U.S. Marshals Service, the Jersey City Police Department and the Orange Police Department also assisted in the investigation and the arrest, the office said.
Source: Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, via Englebrook Independent News
What the charges mean in New Jersey
New Jersey grades its most serious offences in degrees. A crime of the second degree — the grade attached to the sexual assault charge here — ordinarily carries a sentence of five to ten years in state prison on conviction, and a crime of the third degree, the grade of the aggravated assault charge, ordinarily carries three to five years. Those are the standard ranges in the state's sentencing code, not a prediction for this case: no plea, no trial date and no sentencing question arises unless the case first survives the court process set out below, and the fugitive-from-justice processing means a separate New York matter must also be addressed before or alongside the New Jersey case.
Why the case drew attention in Jersey City
Wallis Avenue is a residential street in Jersey City, the Hudson County seat directly across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan and one of the most densely populated, immigrant-rich cities in New Jersey — home to large South Asian and Punjabi communities alongside many others. A reported street assault in the early evening, on a woman walking in her own neighbourhood, is precisely the kind of case that travels fast through a dense city, and the prosecutor's decision to publish a photograph and ask the public for help kept it in local view for weeks. The arrest closes the identification phase of the case; it does not close the case itself.
What happens next
Martinez remains detained pending his first court appearance, according to the prosecutor's office. From there, the New Jersey process ordinarily runs through a detention decision under the state's bail-reform system, presentation of the charges to a Hudson County grand jury, and — if an indictment follows — arraignment and trial preparation. The New York fugitive matter will have to be resolved through the courts as well. Anyone with information about the October 17 incident can still contact the Special Victims Unit at 201-915-1234. Awaaz Punjab will update this report when the first-appearance outcome, any indictment, or the nature of the New York matter is announced.