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New Jersey State Police detectives and special U.S. Homeland Security agents arrested Aaron Craiger, 33, at an Atlantic City motel this week, they said.
Craiger planned to meet two men he thought were bringing their daughters to have sex with him, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and State Police Supt. Col. Patrick Callahan said Friday.
“Craiger had condoms with him, as well as a small amount of marijuana, which he had said that he wanted to smoke with the girls,” Grewal said in a news release.
He also “detailed the sexual acts he wanted to [have] with the girls” and sent 10 child porn images during text exchanges with two undercover detectives, the attorney general said.
Craiger’s phone contained several of those images when authorities arrested him on Wednesday, Grewal said.
Craiger was registered as a sex offender following a 2006 conviction for rape in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, records show.
He also was convicted in Oklahoma for failing to register as a sex offender when he applied for, and received, a job working at a state fair.
Craiger also was accused of plotting to kidnap his son's mother from a church in Oklahoma several years ago, records show.
“With the number of children who are home from school and accessing the internet due to the [coronavirus] pandemic, it’s critical that parents talk to their children about the dangers of social media and warn them that there are predators like Craiger lurking online who are willing to go to very great lengths to locate and reach victims,” the attorney general said.
“If the coronavirus can’t stop sex offenders from traveling to New Jersey to prey on children,” he said, “we will.”
Authorities charged Craiger with two counts each of attempted sexual assault, child endangerment and attempted distribution of marijuana, and one each of possession and distribution of child pornography and possession of marijuana.
He remained held in the Atlantic County Jail pending a detention hearing this coming Tuesday.
The joint investigation was conducted by the NJSP Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Newark office and the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Cyber Crimes Bureau.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Rastelli and Deputy Bureau Chief Jillian Carpenter are handling the prosecution for the DCJ Financial & Cyber Crimes Bureau.
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NOTE: In addition to investigating cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, members of the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit, the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, and the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force routinely conduct undercover chat investigations on social media platforms leading to arrests of hands-on offenders and defendants attempting to lure children.
They also conduct proactive investigations to apprehend offenders by monitoring peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and identifying the IP addresses of individuals sharing child pornography.
State authorities urged anyone with information about the online distribution of child pornography, suspected improper contact with minors by strangers or other possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children to contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tip Line at 888-648-6007.
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