Convicted Child Sex Abuser Given 15 Years

The Manalapan man convicted in the 2010 sex assault on a girl who was 12 at the time in Ocean County can expect to spend most of 15 years in a state prison.

Dennis Conover, 34, was sentenced in Ocean County Superior Court today for a first-degree count of aggravated sexual assault, according to information from the office of County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato. He was given a concurrent three-year term for endangering the welfare of a child.

The sentence carries a No Early Release Act (NERA) stipulation that he serve at least 85 percent of the term before parole consideration. Conover is required to comply with Megan's Law provisions and undergo lifetime parole supervision.

His co-defendant, Mary Ellen Deane, 29, of Lakewood, was convicted in March of this year on five first-degree counts of aggravated sexual assault, three second-degree charges of sexual assault, and five third-degree counts of child endangerment.

The victim, now 16, testified at Conover's May trial, attesting to multiple episodes involving both defendants with her in Lakewood and in Jackson, authorities said.

Both remain in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River.