Tag:

Undercover Operation

Undercover Sting Nabs NJ Creeps Seeking Sex With Kids Online, Prosecutor Says Undercover Sting Nabs NJ Creeps Seeking Sex With Kids Online, Prosecutor Says
Undercover Sting Nabs NJ Creeps Seeking Sex With Kids Online, Prosecutor Says An undercover operation targeted toward people trying to lure children into sexual activity online has led to the arrests of four men, authorities in Middlesex County said. "Operation Cruel Summer" is a multi-agency sting between the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, US Secret Service, Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, and various local police departments. The charges were announced by Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone, who said four men were arrested between June 3 and June 6, 2024. The underage “children” that the perpetrators were speaking with were, in fact, underco…
NJ Man Who Sent Child Sex Links To Investigator For $20 Admits To Files With 22,000 Images NJ Man Who Sent Child Sex Links To Investigator For $20 Admits To Files With 22,000 Images
NJ Man Who Sent Child Sex Links To Investigator For $20 Admits To Files With 22,000 Images A South Jersey man who authorities said sent links for child sex abuse sites to what turned out to be undercover federal agents admitted possessing files that they said contained more than 22,000 horrific images. Al-Fahim Medina, 24, of Willingboro, had images of "sadistic and masochistic conduct" and other depictions of violence, sexual abuse and exploitation of children under 12 on a tablet and mobile phones, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Some were even infants and toddlers, the U.S. attorney said. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arranged a sting af…
NJ Data Analyst Admits Trafficking Child Porn NJ Data Analyst Admits Trafficking Child Porn
NJ Data Analyst Admits Trafficking Child Porn A data analyst from Somerset County admitted in federal court in Trenton on Thursday that he trafficked videos and other images of child pornography. Marcevan Manasse, 28, of Somerville, was nabbed following an undercover operation, authorities said. Detectives accessed five video files and 11 images containing child sexual abuse from an IP address at Manasse’s home, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Trenton says. The files included “multiple visual depictions of pre-pubescent children being sexually abused by adults” that he ended up sharing over the course of more than two ye…
CHILD SEX STING: German Traveler Busted At NJ Hotel After Flying In: Authorities CHILD SEX STING: German Traveler Busted At NJ Hotel After Flying In: Authorities
Child SEX Sting: German Traveler Busted At NJ Hotel After Flying In: Authorities A German man who flew to the United States for what he thought would be sex with children 10 and 11 years old at a New Jersey hotel was instead arrested by undercover officers, authorities said. Christian Stefan Walther, 38, of Erfurt, Germany, communicated with two officers via email, phone, and an encrypted messaging app about his “desire for sexual encounters with young children,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. The officers had posed as members of a group of child predators who had access to young children, he said.  Walther, who called himself a "perv to some extent," sen…
South Jersey Man Charged With Luring What He Thought Was A Child Online: Prosecutor South Jersey Man Charged With Luring What He Thought Was A Child Online: Prosecutor
South Jersey Man Charged With Luring What He Thought Was A Child Online: Prosecutor A 27-year-old man from Gloucester County has been arrested for trying to lure a child online, authorities said. Todd Merinuk of West Deptford was charged with two counts of attempted sexual assault, three counts of attempted endangering the welfare of a child and one count of attempted luring, according to  Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri. About three weeks ago, detectives with the prosecutor’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit investigating individuals trying to exploit children online connected with a subject via an anonymous social media plat…
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds A corrections officer and his girlfriend were busted for smuggling tobacco and cellphones into the Essex County Jail from a source who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, federal authorities said. Efrin Wade, 34, and Yairisa Lizardo, 29, both of Jersey City, accepted $14,000 for the illegal acts and apparently were counting on another $30,000 when they were busted, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said following their arrests on Tuesday, March 14. Wade, who’d worked as a corrections officer at the Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) in Newark since February 2020, be…
Jersey Shore Man Seeks Sex With Teenage Girl, Hooks Up With Law Enforcement Agent: Prosecutor Jersey Shore Man Seeks Sex With Teenage Girl, Hooks Up With Law Enforcement Agent: Prosecutor
Jersey Shore Man Seeks Sex With Teenage Girl, Hooks Up With Law Enforcement Agent: Prosecutor A 66-year-old man from Long Branch, who allegedly was seeking sex with a 13-year-old girl, was instead arrested by law enforcement in a joint probe with the FBI. Samuel H. Christopher, 66, is charged with luring, attempted sexual assault of a minor, child endangerment and attempted criminal sexual contact with a minor, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey. The investigation began earlier this summer, when Christopher allegedly engaged in conversations with an undercover officer online, believing the officer to be a teenage girl, Linskey said. Christopher allegedly ma…
PA Man Admits Traveling To NJ For What He Thought Was Sex With 14-Year-Old PA Man Admits Traveling To NJ For What He Thought Was Sex With 14-Year-Old
PA Man Admits Traveling To NJ For What He Thought Was Sex With 14-Year-Old A Pennsylvania man admitted traveling to New Jersey for what he thought would be sex with a 14-year-old partner, federal authorities said. Quentin Anthony Blount, 29, of Easton, was one of a dozen men nabbed in an undercover roundup of accused predators who investigators said trolled social media for what would be the statutory rape of underage girls and boys. He took a deal from the government rather than risk trial, pleading guilty on Thursday to traveling with the intent to engage in sex. Blount, like the other defendants, virtually hooked up with what he thought was an underage teen af…
UPDATE: Bronx Man Snared In NJ Child Sex Sting Takes Deal UPDATE: Bronx Man Snared In NJ Child Sex Sting Takes Deal
Update: Bronx Man Snared In NJ Child Sex Sting Takes Deal A financial services worker from the South Bronx pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography as part of a deal with authorities who caught him traveling to New Jersey for what he thought would be sex with a 13-year-old, federal authorities said. Jesus Modesto-Sanchez, 31, was caught dead to rights when he showed up at a pre-arranged, undisclosed location in Somerset County on Oct. 17, 2020 only to be arrested by investigators. Modesto-Sanchez was among a dozen men bagged in an accused predator sting dubbed "Operation Spotlight." The joint operation involving the FBI, U.S. Attorney's …
British Man Hired Undercover Agent To Arrange Sex With Drugged Girls: Feds British Man Hired Undercover Agent To Arrange Sex With Drugged Girls: Feds
British Man Hired Undercover Agent To Arrange Sex With Drugged Girls: Feds A British citizen has been charged with trying to pay for sex with New Jersey girls while giving them drugs, federal authorities said. Stephen Hudson, 51, of Ealing, England, is charged with one count of attempted online enticement of a minor and one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, they said. He was charged on Monday, May 9, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger He appeared by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge José R. Almonte in Newark federal court and was detained. According to authorities, from April 14, to Friday, May 6, H…
UPDATE: Trenton Suspect Charged In 'Officer-Involved' Shooting With Federal Agents UPDATE: Trenton Suspect Charged In 'Officer-Involved' Shooting With Federal Agents
Update: Trenton Suspect Charged In 'Officer-Involved' Shooting With Federal Agents A 26-year-old man from Trenton has been charged with attempted murder and robbery of a federal agent, authorities said.  According to the affidavit of probable cause, at about 9 p.m. on Monday, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were engaged in an undercover operation in Hamilton Township. During the operation, two undercover agents were at Krauszer’s Food Store on Greenwood Avenue. During the operation, a black suspect wearing a black mask approached the undercover vehicle after one of the agents exi…
Released Video Shows Fatal Newark Police Shooting Released Video Shows Fatal Newark Police Shooting
Released Video Shows Fatal Newark Police Shooting Home surveillance video shows a South Orange man being shot and killed by a Newark police detective after rushing the officer. Captured from across the street, the video released this week by state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal shows Carl Dorsey III, 39, running at Detective Rod Simpkins as the plainclothes investigator got out of the passenger side of an unmarked police vehicle just after midnight on New Year’s Day. The pair collide and spin around, as Simpkins shoots Dorsey with his service weapon as he falls backwards. SEE: Dorsey Shooting The video is the only footage of the fatal…
FBI STING: Ex-Paraguayan Lawmaker, Husband Admit Roles In $2 Million Drug Money Laundering Plot FBI STING: Ex-Paraguayan Lawmaker, Husband Admit Roles In $2 Million Drug Money Laundering Plot
FBI Sting: Ex-Paraguayan Lawmaker, Husband Admit Roles In $2 Million Drug Money Laundering Plot A former member of Paraguay’s Congress thought that she and her husband were laundering $800,000 in drug money when they’d actually been caught in a New Jersey-based FBI sting, federal authorities said. Cynthia Elizabeth Tarragó, 41, also promised the purported drug traffickers that she could get them large quantities of cocaine at a good price, they said. Both Tarragó and her husband, Raimundo Va, 45, took guilty pleas in exchange for leniency at sentencing, admitting in federal court in Trenton this week that they conspired to launder what they believed would be as much $2 million in drug…