Dalton Man Charged Sexually Assaulting A Child Over 30 Years Ago

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 7:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

WESTWOOD, NJ.- On Thursday, following a nearly year-long investigation, a 58-year-old Dalton, Minnesota man, formerly of Washington Township, New Jersey, was taken into custody and jailed after being charged with sexually assaulting a teen girl over thirty years ago in Bergen County, New Jersey.

     According to Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, the Westwood Police Department contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit after a victim came forward alleging they were sexually assaulted over thirty years ago in Bergen County, New Jersey.

Investigation Uncovers Sexual Assaults From 34 Years Ago

     During an investigation and following interviewing witnesses, including the victim, Detectives of the Bergen County Special Victims Unit determined that Jed D. Phykitt, 58, sexually assaulted a child in Westwood, Washington Township, and Hillsdale, New Jersey, on multiple occasions between 1990 and 1991, when the child was over thirteen, but under the age of sixteen when the assaults occurred.

     Accordingly, on Thursday, February 6, 2025, Detectives of the Bergen County Special Victims Unit traveled to Minnesota and, with the assistance of the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department, located Phykitt and arrested and charged him with five counts of second-degree Sexual Assault.

     Phykitt was processed on a fugitive from justice warrant and lodged in the Otter Tail County Jail in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, pending extradition to New Jersey.