Wound Up Getting Cuffed In Net Sting
A Brooklyn man has been charged with sending sexually explicit messages and a picture to a person he had met online and who he believed to be a 14-year-old Queens girl and who he was attempting to meet for sexual relations.
The alleged victim was actually an NYPD undercover detective assigned to its Major Case Team of Vice Enforcement.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendant as Eslam M. Abdeledayem, 30, of Coyle Street in Sheepshead Bay, who was arrested last Wednesday night, June 11, in Queens at the time of the prearranged meeting.
Abdeledayem was charged with second-degree attempted criminal sexual act, second-degree attempted rape, first-degree attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, attempted endangering the welfare of a child and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
“This arrest is the latest in a series of child luring cases that this office, in conjunction with the NYPD, has pursued over the years. While the Internet is a valuable learning tool for young people, it also provides a doorway for sexual predators to attempt to lure children to meet for sex,” Brown said in a statement Thursday, June 12. “It is imperative that parents monitor their children’s online activities to protect them from the Internet predators that we know are out there looking for victims.”
According to the criminal complaint, an NYPD vice detective was operating in his undercover persona as a 14-year-old girl from Queens on May 27, during which time he was contacted by Abdeledayem, who used the screen name IPACKA94U@aol.com. Following their initial contact, Abdeledayem allegedly began communicating with the undercover officer via text messages.
Abdeledayem’s instant messages and texts were allegedly sexually graphic in nature and in one instance he allegedly sent a photo of his genitals. It is alleged that Abdeledayem indicated that he wanted to meet on June 11 for sexual contact.
Finally, according to the criminal complaint, the defendant arranged to meet with the alleged 14-year-old girl last night in Queens and was arrested after he met with an undercover officer, who was posing as the 14- year-old girl. Police allegedly recovered a pipe containing cocaine from his person.
The investigation was conducted by Det. Paul Byrne of the NYPD Vice Enforcement Major Case Team, under the supervision of Lt. Marcus Morales and Sergeants Sammy Melisi and Gregory Graves, and the overall supervision of Deputy Inspector Anthony Favale, coordinator of Vice Enforcement, and Chief Thomas Purtell, chief of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
Assistant District Attorney Jeanine R. Diehl and Senior Assistant District Attorney Kateri Gasper of the District Attorney’s Special Proceedings Bureau are prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Anthony M. Communiello, bureau chief, and Oscar W. Ruiz, deputy bureau chief, and Robert D. Alexander, Computer Crimes Unit chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.
It was noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
