A Linden man who was sentenced on federal explicit images of minors possession charges several weeks ago has also admitted to sexually assaulting two boys, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Thursday.
Gregory Aker, 46, earlier this week pleaded guilty before state Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield to two counts of second-degree sexual assault.
Aker admitted to inappropriately touching the two victims for his own sexual gratification, according to Union County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit Assistant Prosecutor Jessica Kahn, who prosecuted the case. The victims were both under the age of 13 at the time of the abuse, Kahn said.
On April 21, 2016, Aker was sentenced to 96 months in prison on the federal charges. Formerly a leader with a local boys’ youth organization and a religious education teacher at his church, Aker was arrested on February 22, 2014, after which authorities seized computers and storage media on which more than 600 images and dozens of videos depicting incidents of child sexual abuse were found.
Aker also was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release and required to register as a sex offender. The federal case was led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, and assisted by the FBI’s Newark office, the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Linden Police Department.
Sentencing in the Superior Court case has been scheduled for June 24, 2016 before Judge Caulfield, with Aker’s prison term to run consecutively with his federal prison sentence. Convictions on second-degree crimes are commonly punishable by 5 to 10 years in state prison.