Update: $500,000 bail for ex-con accused of drugging, raping 15-year-old boy in Jersey City
by Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
Monday February 23, 2009, 2:19 PM

Bail has been set at $500,000 cash only for the 45-year-old ex-con who made his first appearance in court today on charges that he raped a 15-year-old boy after enticing him to smoke crack at his Jersey City home this weekend, official said.

Alnorah Howard of Brinkerhoff Street and Monticello Avenue, made his first appearance in Central Judicial Processing court at about 1 this afternoon via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.

Howard was arrested yesterday on charges of aggravated sexual assault, child abuse, endangering the welfare of a child and various drug charges including possession with intent to distribute, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said today.

The defendant, who has served prison time before, seemed calm during the hearing, but when CJP Judge Richard Nieto explained the size of the bail, Howard rocked back in his chair in the small video conferencing room.

Investigators allege that prior to the rape at Howard's residence at about 4:30 a.m. yesterday, the boy was "coerced to take cocaine," DeFazio said, adding that detectives have also recovered drug paraphernalia.

Howard and the boy are not related but they knew each other, DeFazio said.

The victim's father reported the alleged sexual assault to police at the West District station house and officers then contacted the prosecutor's office's Special Victims Unit. The SVA took over the investigation and busted Howard later in the day, DeFazio said.

The boy was taken to Christ Hospital in Jersey City to be examined and was later released, DeFazio said.

The crime of aggravated sexual assault caries a possible sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison upon conviction, DeFazio said.

Howard was in state prison from Sept. 18, 1998 to Dec. 14, 2001 after being sentenced to a five-year for drug possession, state corrections officials said.