19 alleged child sex predators arrested in Somerset County undercover sting investigation – Asbury Park Press

SOMERVILLE – Nineteen alleged child predators, including several from Somerset and Middlesex counties and as far away as Pennsylvania and Indiana, have been arrested in “Operation Open Door,” an undercover sting investigation targeting adults using social media to lure underage girls and boys for sexual activity.

Like a scene from television’s “To Catch a Predator,” the suspects were arrested after highly trained undercover investigators, posing as children, 12 to 14 years old, on the internet, engaged in conversations about sex and made arrangements to meet for sex. Most of the suspects were arrested when they arrived at one of two residences in the county, where they expected to find their victims home alone.

“By arresting 59 alleged child predators in just over a year through three undercover operations across New Jersey, including Operation Open Door, we have sent a powerful message to predators that the boy or girl they target on social media may turn out to be the officer who puts them in handcuffs,” Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Thursday during a news conference at the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

“Through these collaborative efforts, we also are delivering a message to parents that we must all do our part to protect children by talking to them and warning them that predators use popular chat apps and gaming platforms to lure children into danger. We have no higher priority than protecting our children,” he added.

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The arrests were made over a six-day period from Oct. 23 to Oct. 28, said Somerset County Prosecutor Michael Robertson, adding that the arrests resulted from a “truly collaborative” effort by local, county, state and federal authorities.

“Our children and their online safety is the utmost concern to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Social media apps allow predators into our homes and as law enforcement, we must do what we can to make it a safer environment,” Robertson said. “We hope that this collaborative operation will be eye-opening for parents. Although, 19 online child predators have been arrested, parents must learn the apps that their children are using and the inherent dangers within.”

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Grewal had a stern warning for online predators.

“If you try to target young people, we will find you and arrest you,” he said, adding the suspects will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Robertson said authorities will use “every last resource” to track down those who prey on children.

Like the television program, Robertson explained, “Operation Open Door” used undercover officers, who are specially trained members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, to pose as children on social media apps.

The 19 suspects initiated contact based on profiles posted by the undercover officers and once chatting began, the undercover officers clearly identified themselves as underage girls or boys

Even though they knew were talking to someone who identified themselves as 12 to 14 years old, the suspects engaged the “children” in conversations about sex and made arrangements to meet them for sex.

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Robertson would not say where the residences used for the arrests were located.

One suspect traveled to one of the undercover residences from Pennsylvania. Two of the suspects lived out-of-state but were in New Jersey for work when they decided to meet a “child’ for sex.

Dozens of law enforcement officers from around the state, forensic examiners, and attorneys from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office were waiting at the undercover residences waiting for the suspects to arrive, Robertson said.

The electronic devices seized from the suspects are undergoing forensic examinations to determine if the devices contain evidence of any prior encounters with underage victims.

The arrests

• Brayan Alvarado, 25 of Middlesex. Alvarado is a volunteer fireman in Franklin and driver for an electric company. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Jihaad Brown, 23 of Franklin Park. Brown is retail salesman. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Michael Brown, 28 of Edison. Brown is a mail tester. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Julio Cubia-Aviles, 27 of West Orange. Cubia-Aviles is a carpenter. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Brian Davis, 28 of Somerset. Davis is a security guard. Charges are second-degree attempted promotion of prostitution of a child, second-degree luring and third degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Asif Iqbal, 53 of Mount Holly. Iqbal is a business owner. Charges are second-degree attempted promotion of prostitution of a child, second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Juan Lopez, 42 of Passaic. Lopez is a day laborer. Charges are second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Rafael Martinez-Lezama, 37 of New Brunswick. Martinez-Lezama is a cook at a bagel shop. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Jose Martinez-Mejia, 32 of West New York. Martinez-Mejia is a day laborer. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree attempt to promote obscene material to a child.
• Duraikandan Murugan, 40 of Jasper, Indiana. Murugan is unemployed. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Nimeshbha Patel, 48 of Piscataway. Patel is a retail worker. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Niraj Patel, 46 of Somerset. Patel is a printer. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Michael Schumacher, 55 of Somerset. Schumacher is a self-employed home theater installer. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Zulfiqer Sekender, 47 of Piscataway. Sekender is a software engineer. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Naveen Thangaraj, 36 of Edison. Thangaraj is a system engineer. Charges are second-degree luring and second-degree attempted sexual assault.
• Alexander Ulikowski, 20 of Branchburg. Ulikowski is an assistant manager for a hockey store. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Conrado Vasquez-Vasquez, 38 of New Brunswick. Vasquez-Vasquez works at a dry cleaning business. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
• Randal Wise, 42 of Crawford, Indiana. Wise is an engineer for a sports television network. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree attempt to promote obscene material to a child.
• Adam Zeigler, 34 of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Zeigler works for an amusement park. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child.

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Second-degree crimes carry prison sentences of five to 10 years. All the suspects will be prosecuted by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

“This is a problem we try to solve on a daily basis,” New Jersey State Police Lt. John Pizzuro said. Many of the apps, he explained, are in other countries, including Russia, China and Canada.

The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office led the operation with the collaboration of the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The ICAC Task Force is led by the New Jersey State Police and includes the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI, all 21 county prosecutors’ offices, and many other state and local law enforcement agencies.

The other agencies that participated in “Operation Open Door” were: United States Secret Service, N.J. Department of Corrections, N.J, State Parole, Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, Union County Prosecutor’s Office, Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, Franklin Township Police Department, Branchburg Police Department, Verona Police Department, Bayonne Police Department, Wall Police Department, Red Bank Police Department, East Brunswick Police Department,  Manalapan Police Department and Fairfield Police Department.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@gannettnj.com

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