KEW GARDENS — A 69-year-old Oceanside, L.I., optician was arraigned Tuesday on charges of second-degree attempted rape, second-degree attempted criminal sexual act, first-degree attempted dissemination indecent material to minors and attempted endangering the welfare of a child, the Queens district attorney said Tuesday.
Andrew Cullen, who owns a business in Rosedale, allegedly attempted to meet a person he met online, who he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, in Queens for sex, the DA said.
The victim was actually an undercover NYPD Vice Enforcement Division detective.
Cullen faces up to four years in prison if convicted and is being held on $25,000 bail, according to the DA. He was forced to surrender his passport and will return to court Jan. 19.
The detective went undercover as a 14-year-old girl from Queens between Dec. 28, 2009, and Jan. 4 during which time he received numerous instant messages, text messages and e-mails from Cullen, who used the screen names AndyCullen, Amcoptical andConfident_Man1941 from his Yahoo accounts, the DA said. Kravitz’s messages were sexual and included invitations for him to take the victim to a motel in Kew Gardens for sex.
He was arrested upon arriving at a pre-arranged Queens location and identifying himself to a female undercover police officer posing as the 14-year-old girl for a sexual encounter, according to the DA.
