5 Years In Jail For Sayreville Man That Lured 'Boy' For Sex: NJAG

SAYREVILLE, NJ — A Sayreville man who pleaded guilty to multiple charges after attempting to lure a cop posing as a teenage boy for sex was sentenced to five years in jail, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.

Craig M. Dimonda, 37, of Sayreville, pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree luring and second-degree attempted distribution of child pornography. After a five year jail sentence, Dimonda will be subject to parole supervision and registry on the sex offender list for life.

Last year, an undercover detective from the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit (DTIU) encountered Dimonda on social media. Dimonda, who believed the undercover detective was a 14-year-old boy, communicated with the "boy" via text messages for a period of approximately three months, outlining his desire to engage in various sexual activities with the "boy" and watch pornography together, Grewal said. Dimonda also asked for sexually explicit images of the boy.

Ultimately, Dimonda asked the boy to meet him on Wednesday morning at a convenience store in Sayreville, so he could take him back to his residence to engage in sexual activity, Grewal said.

“This prison sentence sends a strong message that we will aggressively prosecute digital-age sexual predators like Dimonda who use social media to search for underage victims,” said Attorney General Grewal. “During the past year, we arrested 40 alleged predators of this type in two major undercover operations in Ocean and Bergen counties, in addition to defendants like Dimonda arrested through our everyday patrolling of the internet. We will continue to work with our partners on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to protect children through these online investigations.”