A Philadelphia man has been charged with abducting two girls, driving them to New Jersey, where he sexually assaulted at least one of them, and then abandoning the girls on the side of a the road.

Benjamin Pessin faces one count of kidnapping, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of aggravated sexual assault, the Aberdeen Township Police Department said. One of the counts includes the language “by a caretaker.”

The girls, 13 and 11, have been reunited with their mother and returned home.

Police said the investigation began  early Monday morning when the two girls were knocking on doors in am Aberdeen neighborhood, asking for a place to sleep. One of the neighbors called 911, and police came to the scene along with the Marlboro Township Police Department, the Old Bridge Township Police Department, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Police told the Matawan-Aberdeen Patch that they were able to identify the vehicle driven by Pessin, 43, via security cameras and found the car 15 hours later in a parking lot at a McDonald’s in Aberdeen on Route 34 — in the same area where he’d dumped the two girls.

Aberdeen Township Mayor Fred Tagliarini told the Patch that the resident who called 911 “is shaken up.”

“He cannot believe that his actions might have saved their lives,” Tagliarni said, calling the incident “one of the most bizarre” he’s seen in his time as mayor.

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[Featured image: Shutterstock]