Sex predator gets 7 years after being tricked by undercover sting

An Ocean County sex predator is being sent to prison for up to seven years for trying to have sex with a 15-year-old boy who didn’t even exist.

But there probably was no doubt that 48-year-old Thomas K. Blumensteel would have been capable of depraved acts with a child: In the late 1990s he did time for raping a 13-year-old boy who knew him as a church counselor.

In the latest case, the Manchester resident pleaded guilty in September to second-degree luring after being arrested a year earlier in a statewide sting.

He was sentenced Friday in a deal that will keep him locked up for at least five years and then subject him to parole supervision for life and require him to register as a sex offender after his release.

During last year’s undercover operation, Blumensteel chatted online with an undercover agent and discussed the sexual acts he would perform when he met with who he believed was a boy. He was arrested Sept. 7, 2018, when he arrived at a Toms River house being used by investigators to bust pervs.

The sentence was handed down a day after prosecutors announced that 19 men had been arrested in October in Somerset County after chatting with undercover agents pretending to be underage teens. So far this year, authorities in the state have nabbed 59 suspected child predators in Ocean, Bergen and Somerset counties.

The suspects in the the October busts are listed below.

1. Brayan Alvarado, 25, of Middlesex Borough. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Alvarado is a volunteer firefighter and driver for an electric company. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

2. Jihaad Brown, 23, of Franklin Park section of Franklin. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Brown is retail salesman. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

3. Michael Brown, 28, of Edison. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Brown is a mail tester. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, and third-degree child endangerment.

4. Julio Cubia-Aviles, 27, of West Orange. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Cubia-Aviles is a carpenter. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, and third-degree child endangerment.

5. Brian Davis, 28, of Somerset section of Franklin. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Davis is a security guard. Charges are second-degree attempted promotion of child prostitution, second-degree luring, and third-degree child endangerment.

6. Asif Iqbal, 53, of Mount Holly. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Iqbal is a business owner. Charges are second-degree attempted promotion of child prostitution, second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, and third-degree child endangerment.

7. Juan Lopez, 42, of Passaic. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Lopez is a day laborer. Charges are second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree child endangerment.

8. Rafael Martinez-Lezama, 37 of New Brunswick. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 13-year-old. Martinez-Lezama is a cook at a bagel shop. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

9. Jose Martinez-Mejia, 32, of West New York. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Martinez-Mejia is a day laborer. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, third-degree child endangerment, and third-degree attempt to promote obscene material to child.

10. Duraikandan Murugan, 40, of Jasper, Indiana. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Murugan is unemployed. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, and third-degree child endangerment.

11. Nimeshbha Patel, 48, of Piscataway. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Patel is a retail worker. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree child endangerment.

12. Niraj Patel, 46, of Somerset section of Franklin. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Patel is a printer. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree child endangerment.

13. Michael Schumacher, 55, of Somerset section of Franklin. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old. Schumacher is a self-employed home theater installer. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

14. Zulfiqer Sekender, 47, of Piscataway. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Sekender is a software engineer. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

15. Naveen Thangaraj, 36, of Edison. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Thangaraj is a system engineer. Charges are second-degree luring and second-degree attempted sexual assault.

16. Alexander Ulikowski, 20, of Branchburg. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Ulikowski is an assistant manager for a hockey store. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

17. Conrado Vasquez-Vasquez, 38, of New Brunswick. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Vasquez-Vasquez works at a dry cleaners. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault and third-degree child endangerment.

18. Randal Wise, 42, of Crawford, Indiana. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Wise is an engineer for a sports television network. Charges are second-degree luring, second-degree attempted sexual assault, third-degree child endangerment and third-degree attempt to promote obscene material to child.

19. Adam Zeigler, 34, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Officials said he communicated with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old. Zeigler works for an amusement park. Charges are second-degree luring and third-degree child endangerment.

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