A 55-year-old Maplewood, New Jersey, man was arrested by New York State Police on charges of attempted rape, attempted dissemination of indecent materials to a minor, and attempted endangering the welfare of a child, all in connection with online communications with an undercover State Police investigator posing as a 13-year-old boy.
According to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh II, Carl Ellis was detained by an officer after arriving at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Suffern hoping to engage in sexual contact.
Ellis and the undercover cop exchanged multiple sexually explicit text conversations on April 6 and 7. On April 7, he planned to meet the person he thought was a child.
The case was investigated by the New York State Police Office of Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, the FBI, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ramapo Town Police Department.
