Cop admits to years of sexual abuse and then walks free in NJ

🔴 Former Woodbridge police officer admitted to years of abuse but received probation.

🔴 Recorded confession detailed repeated assaults over nearly a decade.

🔴 His treatment in New Jersey was much kinder than in Pennsylvania.

WOODBRIDGE — A police officer who admitted in a recorded phone call to molesting his cousin throughout her childhood received little more than a slap on the wrist in the New Jersey court system — even as similar charges against him in Pennsylvania threaten to send him to prison.

Ryan Alcott, 29, of the Sewaren section, was a model citizen in the public eye. The Woodbridge High School graduate served as an auxiliary officer for five years before he was officially sworn in as a police officer in 2022. At the ceremony, Mayor John McCormac said he had known Alcott for nearly two decades, and he was a "good, solid, young man."

Accusations against police officer shock Woodbridge community

But Angela Marie Valsechi has seen a different side of her older cousin, she told police and New Brunswick Today. In an interview with a Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office detective, Valsechi said Alcott began molesting her in 2008 when she was 8 years old.

Valsechi, who agreed to be named in the published report, said it started with her older cousin pulling her pants down while she was sleeping over at his parents' home. She soon started waking up to Alcott using his fingers to molest her, according to a criminal complaint.

Valsechi said she was abused countless times over nine years; sometimes it was Alcott rubbing himself on her in the pool, and other times it was during pretend wrestling. She told the detective that the harassment ended in 2016, when she was 16 years old, and Alcott was 19.

A recorded confession after years of abuse

In 2021, Valsechi told her parents. Her father said he called Alcott and that he confessed over the phone to exposing himself to his younger cousin.

Their families tried to handle the situation internally for nearly four years, Valsechi told New Brunswick Today. She was offered money and given the chance to beat him up, but she wanted real accountability. On Sept. 20, 2024, she went to the police. The next day, detectives approved a wiretap and directed Valeschi's father to call Alcott again.

This time, the police officer's confession was recorded. A criminal complaint said that he admitted to touching his cousin's breast and vagina for years. New Jersey 101.5 submitted an open records request for audio of the confession but the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office denied the request because it is considered evidence in a criminal investigation.

Alcott was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of sexual assault through force or coercion. In May 2025, he "voluntarily separated from employment" with the Woodbridge police, according to the department's mandatory major discipline report.

No prison time for former police officer

As part of a plea deal in June 2025, Alcott pleaded guilty to third-degree child endangerment. In October, he was sentenced to five years of probation. The deal includes no time in state prison.

At sentencing, Alcott's defense attorney, Jeffrey Farmer, reportedly said that the judge should consider the former officer's volunteer work and his enrollment in therapy. According to Farmer, Alcott revealed that he had been sexually abused as a child by a neighbor, New Brunswick Today reported.

According to New Brunswick Today, Valsechi opposed the plea deal and said asked Superior Court Judge Colleen Flynn to impose the maximum sentence. Flynn said that she was prepared to reject the plea deal until prosecutors explained the "ancillary issues" at play.

Alcott's status as a police officer was not considered among those outside factors, First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Kuberiet said in a statement to New Brunswick Today. "Police officers are not given any favoritism," Kuberiet said.

Pennsylvania case could bring accountability

Court proceedings are going differently in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, where Alcott had no connections to local law enforcement. District attorneys there charged him with 30 crimes, ranging from aggravated indecent assault of a child to open lewdness.

The Middlesex County detective investigating the case gave a copy of the taped confession to a Pennsylvania State Trooper, New Brunswick Today reported. The recording reportedly included Alcott admitting that some of the abuse happened at a family lake house in Lakeville, Pennsylvania, which is 20 miles east of Scranton.

Alcott pleaded guilty in the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas to one count of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, according to court records. The charge carries up to five years in prison.

A docket sheet shows his sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, April 16. He will be represented by defense attorney Paul Philip Ackourey. New Jersey 101.5 has reached out to Ackourey for comment.

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