Sex offenders from Manalapan, NJ and Little Egg Harbor, NJ admit to pursuing child porn
Two men, one from Manalapan and the other from Little Egg Harbor, have both admitted in court to trying to get minors to engage in sexually illicit behaviors.
In a pair of separate case results announced by U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, 30-year-old Angelo N. Curato plead guilty to online enticement of a minor for trying to solicit a minor for sex while 41-year-old David Frew -- a previously convicted sex offender -- plead guilty to receiving child pornography and one count of online enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct as he tried to exchange and solicit a minor to send him lewd images.
Between February and July of 2017, Curato used online chat applications to pretend to be someone else as a way of trying to coerce a minor to engage in prohibited sexual activity, Attorney Sellinger said, and, now, as a result of doing so and pleading guilty he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, a mandatory minimum prison term of 10 years, and a $250,000 fine.
For the results of this investigation and guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina in Newark; and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Lori Linskey.
The government in this case is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry O’Connell of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit.
Defense counsel for Curato is Rahul Sharma Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark.
As for Frew, he admitted to receiving child porn and trying to get a minor to send him more and also engage in sexually explicit conduct over an online messaging service in 2017, according to Attorney Sellinger.
It was nine-years prior, in 2008, that Frew was convicted of three counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal use of a computer in Pennsylvania, Attorney Sellinger said, when he sent sexually explicit photos, videos to who he thought were minors but in reality was members of the PA Attorney General's Office Child Predator Unit.
In New Jersey that same year, Frew was convicted of endangering the welfare of children via possession of child porn.
Due to the fact that Frew is a previously convicted sex offender from the 2008 cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Attorney Sellinger said that he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, a statutory maximum potential penalty of 40 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine for the 2017 crimes which also includes 10-years minimum and up to life in prison for the charge of online enticement along with a $250,000 fine.
For the investigation and guilty plea in this case involving Frew, U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in Atlantic City, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina in Newark; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Technical Crime Unit; the RCMP National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre; the Ocean County Prosecutors Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer; and the Little Egg Harbor Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Hawkins.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander E. Ramey of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.
Defense counsel for Frew is Benjamin West Esq., Trenton.