Asbury Park Man Sentenced For 2023 Luring & Kidnapping Of Preteen Girl

Thursday, May 29, 2025, 7:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

ASBURY PARK, NJ.- A 31-year-old Asbury Park, New Jersey, man will be spending the next two decades in New Jersey State Prison after being sentenced last Friday for luring and kidnapping an 11-year-old girl off an Asbury Park, New Jersey street in May 2023.

     According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago, on Friday, May 23, 2025, Raquan M. Folk, 31, of Asbury Park, New Jersey, appeared in Monmouth County Superior Court and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon to 20 years in State Prison subject to the No Early Release Act, which will require Folk to serve 85% of his custodial term before becoming eligible for parole.

The Sentence Is The Result Of An Investigatio

     The sentence stems from an incident that unfolded on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, when, shortly before 5:30 p.m., the child was walking along Ridge Avenue in Asbury Park when a man, later identified as Folk, pulled up to her in a vehicle and convinced her to get inside, according to an investigation led by Detective Kayla Santiago of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Detective Scott Ritter of the Asbury Park Police Department.

     After getting into Folk’s vehicle, he drove the young girl to Neptune Township and told her to take off her clothes. The girl asked Folk if she could use the bathroom. The child then ran from the car, flagged down a passerby, and was then taken to the Neptune Township Police Department. Folk was taken into custody a few days later and formally charged and has remained detained in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution since his arrest.

     Following an eight-day trial in January before Judge Escandon, a Monmouth County Jury found Folk guilty of first-degree Kidnapping; and second-degree Luring.

     “This case represented every parent’s worst nightmare,” Prosecutor Santiago said. “Earning justice for the victim and the Asbury Park community at large was imperative, and we hope this sentence sends an unequivocal message regarding the degree to which this sort of conduct cannot be tolerated.”