Asbury Park Man Out On Parole Raped 2nd Woman, Prosecutor Says

ASBURY PARK, NJ — An Asbury Park man who already served prison time for raping a teenage Keansburg girl in 2006 was convicted last week of breaking into a home and raping an adult woman at knifepoint in 2021.

The man is Shawn Connolly, 36, and this happened in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 14, 2021, said the Monmouth County Prosecutor.

Shortly before 5:30 a.m. on that date, Asbury Park Police responded to a 911 call from a home on 7th Avenue:

Police say the two victims, an adult man and woman, suddenly awoke to Connolly in their bedroom. He had entered through a kitchen window.

He was holding a knife and threatening to harm them, having entered through a kitchen window.

Police say Connolly ordered the man to leave the room to retrieve cash and after the man left, he sexually assaulted the woman. Once the man was out of the room, he called 911 and left the line open. When police got to the home, Connolly was still inside; police also found robbery proceeds in his pockets. He was arrested at the scene.

Connolly was indicted in November 2021. His criminal trial lasted the past two weeks and a Monmouth County jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts last Thursday, Sept. 28.

Connolly is also accused of breaking into a second home that same night, Sept. 14, 2021. He has been charged in that case, but trial is still pending.

NJ 101.5 reports that Connolly already served time in prison for sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in Keansburg in 2006. In a case that is similar, Connolly, then 19, broke into a home, where he raped the teen girl inside and was then chased and caught by her teen brother.

He was convicted for that home invasion/sex assault and served four years in state prison, before he was released on parole in May 2021.