Attempted rapist goes to prison as woman thanks NJ rescuer

A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, after admitting to trying to rape a woman along the side of a highway in Mount Laurel.

At Thursday's court proceeding, the intended victim of 54-year-old Donald Cramer also got to finally meet the Good Samaritan who saved her, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.

Cramer must serve more than 15 years of the term before becoming eligible for parole, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said.

The sentence handed down by a Burlington County Superior Court judge was the result of a plea deal, as Cramer pled guilty in September to first degree attempted aggravated sexual assault.

In June 2019, a female victim was walking along Route 73 in Mount Laurel when she was grabbed by Cramer and dragged to the side of the I-295 northbound exit ramp, Coffina said.

Burlington County resident John Bishop was driving by and saw the abduction, according to police, immediately pulling over to the roadside and racing to help, pulling Cramer away and holding him until Mount Laurel police arrived.

The victim, a woman in her fifties, and her husband both met Bishop for the first time following the sentencing proceeding Thursday, Coffina said, who added they were extremely grateful for Bishop's courageous and selfless actions.

“It was a privilege to see this emotional meeting between this brave survivor and the gentleman
who put himself in harm’s way to rescue her from this awful attack,” Coffina said.

He continued “By intervening to help a stranger without regard for his own safety, Mr. Bishop reflects, as Abraham Lincoln once said, the ‘better angels of our nature.’ And I cannot say enough about our survivor, who bravely fought her attacker during the crime, and was determined to see that justice was done in this case, and to make certain that this defendant could not harm anyone else.”