NJ Man Arraigned After Undercover Pedophile Sting: DA

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A New Jersey man was arraigned Wednesday on charges that he traveled to a local hotel to meet someone he believed to be a 13-year-old boy for sex, according to the Rockland County District Attorney’s office.

Carl Ellis, 55, of Maplewood, New Jersey, had actually been communicating online with an undercover cop, not an adolescent boy, officials said.

Ellis’ arraignment was before Judge Kevin F. Russo in the County Court of Rockland County.

Ellis, who was charged in April, faces one count each of attempted second-degree rape, attempted first-degree dissseminating indecent materials to minors, and attempted endangering the welfare of a child.

On Thursday, prosecutors released new details about the charges against Ellis.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh II said Ellis exchanged numerous sexually explicit text messages between April 6 and 7 with an undercover investigator he met online.

The investigator, who works with the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, posed as a 13-year-old boy during the exchanges, according to the district attorney’s office.

On April 7, Ellis traveled to a hotel in Suffern, New York for sex with the person he believed to be an adolescent boy, prosecutors said. State police arrested Ellis when he arrived at the hotel.

Ellis is next due in court on June 4, court records show.