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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that a Madison Borough police
officer pleaded guilty today to a charge
that he solicited a nude photo online from
a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl.
According
to Director Taylor, James N. Haspel, 50,
of Chatham, pleaded guilty to a criminal
accusation charging him with second-degree
attempted endangering the welfare of a child
(attempted distribution of child pornography)
before Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan
in Morris County.
In
pleading guilty, Haspel admitted that he
engaged in Internet communications in which
he solicited a person he believed to be
a 13-year-old girl to send him a nude photo
of herself. In reality, the person was an
undercover detective of the New Jersey State
Police Digital Technology Investigations
Unit.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Haspel be sentenced to seven years
in state prison. Haspel will be subject
to registration as a sex offender under
Megan’s Law. He must forfeit his job
as a police officer and will be permanently
barred from public employment.
“A
police officer’s sworn duty is to
protect people, but this officer instead
used the Internet to prey sexually on a
person he believed to be a vulnerable girl,”
said Attorney General Dow. “Prison
is the appropriate sentence for such egregious
conduct.”
“This
case should serve as a deterrent to sexual
predators who troll the Internet for victims,”
said Director Taylor. “The New Jersey
State Police and the Division of Criminal
Justice will remain vigilant to catch and
prosecute such predators.”
Deputy
Attorney General Kenneth Sharpe took the
guilty plea for the Division of Criminal
Justice Financial and Computer Crimes Bureau.
The plea resulted from an investigation
by Detectives Gregory Godish and Michelle
Goncalves of the New Jersey State Police
Digital Technology Investigations Unit,
and Deputy Attorney General Sharpe.
Judge
Manahan scheduled Haspel to be sentenced
on Oct. 14.
Haspel
admitted that between December 2009 and
May 2010, he communicated online with a
person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl,
including communications that occurred while
on duty at police headquarters using a computer
supplied by the borough for official police
business.
Haspel
admitted that, during the course of these
communications, he asked the “girl”
to send him a nude photo of herself. Previously,
the State Police charged that Haspel, on
more than one occasion, transmitted Webcam
videos of himself with his genitals exposed
to the person he believed was a 13-year-old
girl.
Haspel,
who held the rank of detective and was employed
by the Madison Borough Police Department
for 25 years, was arrested by the New Jersey
State Police on May 11, 2010. He was suspended
without pay from his job at the police department
on May 12, 2010. Haspel has been free on
$75,000 bail.
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