By Dustin Brown
An Astoria home contractor pleaded guilty this week to attempting to send indecent materials to an undercover cop he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Greg Carlson, 34, of 28-15 47th St. in Astoria, was expected to be sentenced on Sept. 23 to six months in jail and five years’ probation, in addition to having to enter a sex offender’s treatment program, Brown said.
He entered a guilty plea Monday to charges of attempting to disseminate indecent material to a minor before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert McGann, the DA said.
“The defendant used the Internet in an attempt to prey sexually upon an individual whom he believed to be a child,” Brown said in a release. “This case proves yet again that parents must be vigilant in safeguarding their children and their children’s access to and use of the Internet.”
Carlson had originally faced additional charges of attempted rape and attempted sodomy and could have been sentenced to as many as four years in prison if convicted.
Carlson, a home improvement contractor who installs windows and doors, met an undercover police officer he believed to be a 13-year-old girl next to the park statue at 54th Street and Woodside Avenue on May 14 , then walked with her to an apartment building where he allegedly planned to have sex with her, according to the complaint filed by the DA’s office.
But he was arrested as they entered the vestibule, where police found he had three condoms and a digital camera, which he had brought to take “naughty pictures,” the DA alleged.
Carlson had arranged the meeting after meeting “Jessie” earlier this year in an America Online chat room, the DA said. The complaint said he had instant message conversations in which he described detailed sexual acts with her and e-mailed her sexually explicit photographs of himself.
After learning the girl was 13 years old, he told her her age “kind of turns me on a little,” the complaint said.
wReach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
