Police: Man Thought He Was 'Sexting' With Morristown Girl

Authorities have arrested a Secaucus man who they say believed he was trading explicit messages with a 14-year-old girl from Morristown—but was actually in touch with a Morris County Prosecutor's Office detective.

Detective Edward Mireuter posed as a teen girl in the operation, which resulted in the Wednesday arrest of Salvatore Iacopelli, 39, according to an affidavit signed by Mireuter. Iacopelli was charged with second degree attempted sexual assault, third degree attempted endangering the welfare of children, and third degree attempted promoting of obscene material to a person under the age of 18.

Iacopelli was identified and located based on his computer's IP address, and based on the phone number he used during the communication, according to the affidavit.

Bail was set at $200,000 with no 10 percent option, according to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office. Iacopelli  has been barred from contact with children under the age of 16, except his own, by Superior Court Judge David Ironson.

Iacopelli first contacted the undercover Mireuter March 11 via Yahoo! Instant Messenger, according to the affidavit. Conversations continued through June 13 online and through mobile phone text messages.

Iacopelli understood the person he was contacting to be underage, according to the affidavit.

"He also continually stated that he was an adult male, and knew he could get in trouble if he was seen with a 14-year-old, and that he knew it was wrong to talk about sex with a 14-year-old-girl," Mireuter wrote.

On April 4, Iacopelli  sent a picture of an erect penis through  Yahoo! Instant Messenger, according to the affidavit. He also expressed a desire to have sexual contact with the teen girl to whom he thought he was speaking, and in May sent an explicit picture of a woman engaged in oral sex with a man, according to the affidavit.

"He then asked me for a picture of myself, nude from the waist up, with exposed breasts," Mireuter wrote in the affidavit.

The prosecutor's office says the investigation was handled by a newly formed unit, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The unit was launched after a detective received training from the  New Jersey State Police on the latest investigative techniques to catch adults who attempt to lure children for otherwise illegal purposes.

"We are very proud to launch yet another valuable unit within the prosecution dynamic of our office that invariably protects our children from those intent upon harming them," Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi said in a statement.

Anyone who may have information may contact the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-285-6200 or the Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestopper Program at 973-267-2255.