Burdick store owner faces sex charges

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday in Morris County District Court for a 76-year-old Burdick businessman charged with aggravated sexual battery of a 23-year-old woman in his antique store.

James Peterson, owner of Burdick Oil, Feed, and Fertilizer and Jim’s JunkNTiques, was charged after the victim told police he had grabbed her breast Feb. 27 when she tried to walk past him in his antiques store.

He had earlier grabbed her buttock, but she had written that off as an accident.

Morris county attorney Michelle Brown said she would meet with defense lawyer Michael Hawthorne and they would decide whether to reschedule the hearing.

If convicted, Peterson could face a sentence between 2 years and 6 months to 11 years and 4 months in prison and be fined as much as $300,000.