They were emotionally fragile.

One was about the trauma of a son being shot and killed in Irvington and needing counseling. Another was trying to escape from an abusive relationship. A third had complained of sexual harassment at her job which led to her being locked in a bathroom where her stalker exposed himself while holding out a condom.

According to court documents, all turned to an agency overseen by the state attorney general created to help people who have been victims of crime. Instead, they say, they were once again victimized by a New Jersey investigator The Compensation Agency for Victims of Crimeor VCCO, assigned their cases who allegedly used their position to sexually harass and exploit each of them, court documents allege.

That investigator, Guilherme Jamarino, 47, of Point Pleasant, was criminally charged with misconduct in April, criminal court records show. He was arrested and released pending trial.

In separate civil lawsuits reviewed by NJ Advance Media filed against VCCO, three women he was supposed to help alleged that the agency itself either ignored or failed to act on their abuse complaints.

“Shockingly, after neither the previous civil charges nor the criminal charges, not a single representative of (VCCO) contacted the plaintiff to inquire about her interactions with Mr. Jamarino,” one wrote in her lawsuit.

One alleged that Jamarino had sent her videos of himself naked and masturbating or having sex with other women.

According to her lawsuit, when she asked if there was a problem with his contact with victims, he replied: “One in three women in the world are victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse and that if he couldn’t contact them, there would be no women to date in the world.”

Two of those lawsuits have already been settled by the state for hundreds of thousands of dollars, records show.

Curiously, the state never publicly disclosed Jamarino’s arrest, which may have prompted more individuals to come forward.

Attorney General Matthew Platkin in response to questions about the allegations, said Jamarino’s alleged conduct made a mockery of VCCO’s mission to “compassionately serve crime victims in New Jersey in a way that is cognizant of the trauma they have suffered” and their right to be treated with fairness, compassion and respect.

“His alleged abuse of his authority to engage in sexual communications with VCCO victims was a violation of his professional duties and the law, and a betrayal of the trust the victims placed in him and VCCO,” Platkin said. “We intend to hold him fully accountable for his conduct and the enormous harm it caused to those he was obliged to help.”

Jamarino’s lawyer, Michael P. Koribanics of Clifton, declined to discuss the case other than to confirm that he was representing state investigators.

But in a probable cause affidavit, Elizabeth Lansing — a detective for the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability — wrote that there were at least four women who reported being contacted by Jamarino between Dec. 9, 2021 and July 20, 2022 after have filed a claim for financial assistance, relocation, compensation for medical expenses, mental health counseling, funeral expenses or other compensation as a victim of crime.

According to Lansing, Jamarino reached out to victims via text messages and social media applications such as WhatsApp that “shifted in tone and context from professional to inappropriate and often sexual and explicit.”

Several told her they were “often upset and confused by the communications, as Jamarino was their point of contact as a VCCO investigator and responsible for arranging their financial aid and housing relocation.”

The affidavit stated that Jamarino sent pictures of himself to some of the women. One depicted him shirtless wearing a towel and a video showed him from the neck up in the shower.

“Send pictures, sweet lady,” he allegedly wrote. “Full body shots if you have any.”

The affidavit said he sent more than one victim photos of himself at a shooting range and, in one case involving a woman he knew had been a victim of gun violence, a shirtless photo of himself with a gun in the background.

“More than one of the victims reported that these images made them fear for their safety,” the affidavit said.

State records show Jamarino earned $64,400 a year and had worked for the VCCO since 2018 as one of a team of 16 investigators. Previously, he worked for the General Defense Office.

“What’s sexy mom?”

New Jersey was one of the first states in the country in 1971 to provide assistance to victims of violence. Sparked by a series of stories in The Star-Ledger detailing the plight of crime victims, the program was created to provide compensation to crime victims or their survivors, funded by millions of federal dollars generated from criminal fines and penalties.

It paid out $12 million to victims in New Jersey in fiscal year 2020, according to the most recent data released by the state.

The civil lawsuits against the VCCO, filed between 2022 and April of this year, the last shortly after Jamarino’s arrest, all told similar stories about the investigator’s conduct, accusing the state agency of failing in its mission.

A lawyer for all three women — Daniel Silverman of Mount Laurel — said only that he “could not comment on pending litigation” and declined to make either of them available for interviews.

NJ Advance Media does not identify alleged victims of sexual harassment.

One of the lawsuits alleging sexual harassment under the state’s anti-discrimination law involved a 31-year-old woman who had sought assistance from the victim compensation agency “based on the conduct of her child’s father.”

Jamarino, the investigator assigned to her case by VCCO, helped her obtain funds under the program to pay for a storage unit so she could prepare to move. But over time, she said, the text messages he sent her turned into sexual harassment. He began sending photos of himself shirtless with a loose towel, asking her where she was so he could pick her up, and asking for “full body photos” if she had them.

The next day, the lawsuit said, Jamarino sent her another text, asking: “What’s up sexy mom, you never sent that full body pic,” followed by a drooling emoji.

After she complained to a senior agency official, she was asked if she wanted the VCCO to put her up in a hotel because he knew where she lived.

“The VCCO was, in fact, so aware of the egregious nature of Mr. Jamarino’s conduct that it advised (her) to open a new VCCO application so they could assist her in moving,” the lawsuit alleged. At one point, they suggested “that North Carolina might be a good destination for relocation.”

Her lawsuit said the agency claimed to be “cognizant of the special needs of those who are victims of crime and the right to be treated with fairness, compassion and respect.” Unfortunately, it continued, they “failed in that mission.”

Last year, the prosecutor’s office agreed to settle the case. But after a delay of more than 100 days in issuing a check, a judge signed an order to enforce the settlement and the $400,500 payout.

A second lawsuit filed last September involved a Camden County woman who allegedly suffered sexual harassment in the workplace that led to criminal charges against a man who isolated her in a bathroom and exposed himself to her as he solicited sex.

When she sought help from VCCO, she also got Jamarino as her caseworker.

According to the lawsuit, Jamarino told her he had military experience and was a fully trained sniper. Then the lyrics turned sexual once again. The complaint said the investigator sent her “photos of women turning him on, either partially clothed or naked,” and he told her “he had enough miles to take them anywhere in the world.”

When she contacted VCCO and tried to report Jamarino’s behavior, the lawsuit said a receptionist was unhelpful and initially told her that “she needed to speak to the person assigned to her case.”

It would have been Jamarino.

The attorney general also ruled on that case in May, records show.

The third lawsuit filed in April of this year came from a woman whose son was murdered in Irvington and had her case reviewed by Jamarino. Soon after the two connected, he said he felt close to her and was interested in meeting her in person.”

Once again, the lawsuit said, he would refer to her as “pretty lady.” When she told him that family members had expressed concern about his communication, he replied “that he treated everyone the same and ‘that’s just the way I am.’

Soon, he began texting pictures of him naked and having sex, the lawsuit said.

Eventually, the two began a relationship until friends “staged an intervention” and told her that “Jamarino was a predator who had targeted her during a low point in her life.”

The complaint charged that Jamarino had “operated unchecked by the VCCO and abused his position to sexually harass and potentially exploit multiple women.”

It added that despite the other civil claims and pending criminal charges, not a single representative of the Victims’ Compensation Bureau contacted her to ask about her interactions with Jamarino.

A VCCO spokesman said it “took swift action after learning of the alleged conduct” by immediately referring the matter to the Attorney General’s Office for Public Integrity and Accountability.

Jamarino was terminated from his state job on July 25, 2022. Charged in April with second-degree misconduct, he could face a sentence of five to 10 years in prison, including a mandatory period of five years of parole, and a fine of up to to $150,000 if convicted, officials said.

Anyone aware of, or a victim of, alleged misconduct by Jamarino was urged to contact Det. Lansing of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability at 609-376-6701.

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Ted Sherman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL