24 Arrested in New Jersey Child Sex Sting
- Including a Police Sergeant
Authorities on Tuesday announced the arrests of two dozen men nabbed in a child predator sting in New Jersey, and the suspects include a nurse, a firefighter and a police sergeant.
TOMS RIVER, New Jersey - Authorities on Tuesday announced the arrests of two dozen men nabbed in a child predator sting in New Jersey, and the suspects include a nurse, a firefighter and a police sergeant.
Attorney General Gurbir Grewal outlined the 24 arrests, part of an undercover operation called "Open House" that targeted men allegedly using social media to lure underage girls and boys for sex. The children were actually undercover officers.
Howell Township police sergeant Richard Conte is among those facing charges, after he allegedly tried to meet someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl. The 47-year-old Conte reportedly claimed he was 19 in online chats, and police say he had condoms in his pocket when he was arrested.
The other suspects were identified as follows:
--Mina Beshay, 27, of Monroe Township, a security guard
--Christopher Vargas, 29, of Toms River, a registered nurse
--Joshua Rauter, 31, of Little Egg Harbor Township, a municipal public works employee
--Joseph Martin, 35, of Seaside Heights, unemployed
--Richard Hoffman, 23, of Mays Landing, a firefighter and a college student
--Volvi Lowinger, 23, of Lakewood, a college student
--Thomas Graciano, 28, of Brick, a physical therapist in a retirement community
--Thomas Blumensteel, 47, of Manchester, a hotel manager and a registered sex offender
--Thomas Fuller, 44, Toms River, an assistant manager/sterilization technician
--Zachary Vincent, 24, of Forked River, a landscaper
--William Singleton, 24, of Pemberton Township, a restaurant worker
--Jonathan Vece, 22, of Turnersville, a canvasser
--Lawrence Ivancic, 51, of Toms River, unemployed
--Robert Lisicki, 51, of Metuchen, a train conductor
--Dylan Daffron, 28, of Lacey Township, a cashier at a retail store
--Steven Portnoy, 27, of Egg Harbor Township, unemployed
--David Studnicky, 64, of Toms River, a dry cleaner
--Anthony Perfidio, 24, of Barnegat, a data entry clerk
--Brian Degnan, 33, of Toms River, a data entry clerk
--Nabindranauth Nandalall, 24, of the Bronx, unemployed
--William Davis, 23, Bayville, a consultant
--Charles Schlottfeld, 26, of Bayville, a mechanic
--Douglass Walton, 54, of Hillsborough, in produce
Authorities say most of the defendants were arrested when they arrived at a house in Toms River, where they allegedly expected to find their victim home alone. Instead, they found dozens of law enforcement officers prepared to arrest them and process any evidence seized.
"It is a frightening reality that sexual predators are lurking on social media, ready to strike if they find a child who is vulnerable," Grewal said. "To counter that threat, we are working collaboratively and aggressively across all levels of law enforcement to apprehend these sex offenders. We want child predators to know that we are on social media too - and the child they target may be the undercover officer who puts them in handcuffs. That is the message of Operation Open House."
The arrests were made over a five-day period from September 5 through September 9. Authorities say Nandalall traveled to the undercover house all the way from the Bronx, where he resides.
All 24 defendants are charged with second-degree luring, and many of them face additional charges, including second-degree attempted sexual assault on a minor and third-degree attempted debauching the morals of a child. Five men face third-degree charges of attempted sharing obscene materials with a child for allegedly sending photos of their genitals to undercover detectives.
This time, no leniency in court for sick,
child sex predator
John Anthony Alves drugged and molested boys in Snohomish County shortly after his release from prison.
By Caleb Hutton
EVERETT — An Everett man was shown mercy in 2015, when a judge sentenced him for the car crash that killed his son.
On Thursday, when another judge sent him back to prison for giving drugs to Snohomish County boys and molesting them, John Anthony Alves had little to say in court.
“I just want to ask the victims for forgiveness,” Alves said.
Alves, 36, was sentenced to at least 14½ years behind bars. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if a sentence review board finds him unfit for release.
Alves abused three boys shortly after serving out a 15-month sentence for causing the death of his son, Josiah, 7, in an impromptu car race. Alves was high on marijuana when he slammed into a van on Evergreen Way. The judge granted Alves some leniency in 2015.
“I know perfectly well there is no sentence I can give you that likely will come close to the sentence you have given yourself,” Judge George Appel told him.
Two years later, in May 2017, Alves tried to outrun Everett police in a truck with a stolen trailer, court papers show. Officers caught him in a yard on Maple Street, hiding in shrubs. He begged police to shoot him. He was taken back to jail.
In June 2017, a family member reported he’d seen photos of nude boys on Alves’ phone. Police confronted Alves as he worked on a car in his garage on 16th Street. He denied having a phone. Then he reluctantly pulled one out of his pocket, but claimed it wasn’t his.
A search warrant later showed the phone held hundreds of sexual images of boys younger than 12. Word got out. Parents started talking to their kids about Alves — opening up a dark, secret side of his life.
Over a series of police interviews, one boy recounted being drugged, pushed into a bathroom and raped by Alves at an Everett motel in early 2017, among other examples of sexual abuse. He was 10.
The mother of another boy, 9, asked her son if Alves had ever touched him. The child, who is on the autism spectrum, told her about four different times when Alves sexually touched him in 2016, and told him to stay quiet about it. Alves would give the boy video games and candy, charging papers say.
Police couldn’t find Alves for the remainder of 2017. He was caught hiding in a crawl space at a five-bedroom Stanwood home in January. He’d been living in the home with a teen boy, who had been missing for about as long as Alves. The boy reported, at first, that he hadn’t been hurt. His mother later found video of Alves sexually abusing the child. The boy — who lived through major trauma and instability in his own home — told police he considered Alves to be a boyfriend.
He was 13.
The child went on to say he’d used marijuana and methamphetamine since he was 11. A Department of Corrections investigation noted that, as of this month, the boy had escaped every home he’d been placed in by Child Protective Services, and that he’s currently a runaway.
As the investigation went on, a video was discovered on Alves’ phone, allegedly showing his girlfriend, 27, sexually abusing yet another boy in his early teens in August 2016. Police interviewed her in jail in June. She said Alves made her do it, that he recorded the video and that she was “using a lot of drugs and does not remember much from that time period,” charging papers say.
The woman is charged with second-degree rape of a child. She was still in jail Friday.
Alves pleaded guilty in August to attempting to elude police, possessing child pornography, two counts of first-degree child molestation and another felony crime for abusing the teen in Stanwood.
His public defender, Rachel Forde, spoke on his behalf in court Thursday. She argued that Alves had shown remorse and taken responsibility for what he’d done. “I’ve sat in a jail cell when he’s crying over this,” Forde said. “This is not something easy, or that he’s taking lightly.”
He needed to be crying over it before he was caught if it actually meant anything.
Forde said her client’s warped, dysfunctional thoughts were exacerbated by a drug relapse, and the tragedy of losing his son led his family life to spiral out of control. Alves whispered into her ear.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Alves is also a victim of sexual abuse,” Forde continued. “This is something that he struggled with, he compartmentalized, he buried.”
So many of us also were victims of child sex abuse, but don't use it as an excuse to destroy more children.
Superior Court Judge David Kurtz went with a prosecutor’s suggestion, handing down a prison term at the midpoint of the standard range.
In a letter sent to the court, meanwhile, the mother of the autistic boy had hoped for the sternest sentence possible.
“When I put my child to bed, I ask myself, ‘Why my sweet little boy?’” she wrote in the letter, addressed to Alves. “Why hurt a child who already struggles with life? … I hope as the doors lock shut night after night and you lay down on that cold cot, you realize that what you did was sick and wrong.”
Connecticut man gets 15-year prison term
on child sex assault, child porn charges
By Matthew P. Knox
VERNON — A local man who sexually assaulted a teenage female relative and took a pornographic picture of another teenager was sentenced Friday in Superior Court to 15 years in prison.
Michael Calabrese, 58, of Hammond Street, will also have to spend 10 years on special parole after leaving prison, under the sentence handed down by Judge Jorge Simon.
During the 10 years of special parole, Calabrese will remain a registered sex offender and will have to undergo sex offender evaluation and treatment, Simon ordered.
In addition, Calabrese must not have any contact with the victims or any unsupervised contact with minors under the age of 16.
Calabrese pleaded guilty in July to third-degree sexual assault, third-degree illegal possession of child pornography, and employing a minor in an obscene performance.
Additional charges of first-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault, and risk of injury to a child were nolled or dropped by the prosecutor.
Just before he was sentenced Friday, Calabrese said he was sorry.
Simon told Calabrese he found his conduct “very disturbing” and that it was something the defendant and his victims would have to live with for the rest of their lives.
According to police, the state Department of Children and Families or DCF notified them of allegations against Calabrese last October. A 16-year-old female relative of Calabrese’s told DCF and the police that she had several sexual interactions with Calabrese, including one time when he forced himself on her while driving a car.
When police searched Calabrese’s house during the investigation they seized a cellphone that contained a pornographic image of a 15-year-old boy. In a small room at the house police found stacks of pornographic magazines, which suggested Calabrese had an interest in teenagers and young women.
In an interview with police, Calabrese denied having any physical contact with the teenage girl.
And yet, he was allowed to plea deal???
Grand jury indicts NH man on
17 child sexual assault charges
WMUR
A grand jury indicted Alan Wirkkala, 51, on 17 counts, including aggravated felonious sexual assault and felonious sexual assault on two victims.
The alleged crimes happened between 1985 and 1991 in Claremont. Both alleged victims were under the age of 12.
Wirkkala faces 10-20 years in prison for each count if convicted.
Nebraska paraprofessional arrested on
3 counts of sexual assault of child
KETV Josh Planos
BELLEVUE, Neb. —
A health paraprofessional has been arrested on three counts of sexual assault of a child, Bellevue police officials said in a news release.
A man reported to police on Sept. 12 that, while he attended CHAP School as a juvenile, between 2012 and 2014, he was involved in a sexual relationship with a school health aide. The sexual abuse occurred at several locations, including CHAP School, according to a news release from the Bellevue Police Department.
The man would have been between the ages of 14 and 16 at the time.
Upon receiving the information, Rosie M. Davis, 48, was placed on administrative leave, the release said. Davis has been a health paraprofessional at CHAP School since Aug. 10, 2006.
Davis was arrested Friday and taken to the Sarpy County Jail.
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