NJ man faces federal charges for attacking, threatening and stalking women

🔴 NJ man accused of attacking, stalking women

🔴 He faces federal charges that include kidnap and assault

🔴 He threatened to “gut” one victim “like a fish,” police say

A New Jersey man has been accused of preying on women he met online, physically attacking and threatening them in a violent pattern of abuse carried out in New Jersey and New York.

A grand jury in Manhattan federal court returned an eight-count indictment against
30-year-old Herman Brightman, who now faces charges of kidnapping, kidnapping a minor, cyberstalking and interstate stalking.

He also was charged with interstate travel to commit domestic violence and interstate communication of a threat.

The West New York resident has been accused of pretending to be a nurse while searching for women on Hinge and Facebook before the physical abuse of at least four victims in New Jersey, as well as Queens, Mount Vernon, and the Bronx.

Brightman has also gone by the names “Nazir Griffiths” and “Nazir Luckett.”

“As alleged, for over a year, Herman Brightman preyed upon woman after woman using the internet to lure these women into meeting and dating him and posing as a nurse or nurse practitioner to gain their trust,” according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York, as the indictment was unsealed in court on Monday.

Williams continued, “He then quickly became physically abusive towards them, going so far as to kidnap the women at knifepoint and threaten to kill them.”

Woman and child kidnapped at knifepoint

Prosecutors said that in July 2022, Brightman traveled from New Jersey to New York and, at knifepoint, forced a woman who had recently broken up with him, and her child to go back to Brightman’s home.

Once there, he threatened to kill the woman if she “made any problems” and literally held onto her for an entire evening to prevent her from escaping, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said she was able to flee and contact local police the next morning, after convincing Brightman to let her leave his home, temporarily.

He threatened to “gut” one victim “like a fish,” police say

About a year later in August 2023, Brightman brutally attacked a Queens woman he had been dating, holding her at knifepoint in her own home, according to the indictment.

During the attack, prosecutors said he threatened to “gut” the woman “like a fish.”

Brightman also bound the woman’s hands and tried to tape her mouth, according to the indictment.

She ended the relationship days later — and over a 24-hour span, prosecutors said Brightman called her over 20 times, including from private blocked numbers, threatening her.

Two separate victims in the Bronx

In early September, the indictment said Brightman traveled from New Jersey to the Bronx, and used his phone to lure a third woman he was dating to his car.

He then forced her to call the woman he had attacked in August, before punching the third victim, bruising her arm, prosecutors said.

As she tried to get away, Brightman chased the woman and put her in a chokehold, before she could eventually escape back into her home and call police, the indictment said.

A few days later, according to the indictment, Brightman showed up at the woman’s job, asking her if she had called the police.

Prosecutors said he then followed her home and attacked her outside, pushing her to the ground and throwing a traffic cone at her.

In late September 2023, prosecutors said Brightman went back to the Bronx and convinced a fourth woman to let him inside her home. They had dated previously, before she broke up with him.

Brightman assaulted and strangled the woman, repeatedly threatening to kill her and trying to rape her, prosecutors said.

She was ultimately able to escape, with the help of a friend.

Anyone victimized by Brightman or who might have any additional information about his actions has been urged to contact the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York at 1-866-874-8900 and reference this case.

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