Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a Morris County man was sentenced to prison today for attempting to lure a 13-year-old girl for sex.
The “girl” in fact was an undercover detective of the New Jersey State Police who responded to the man’s ad on Craigslist seeking a “younger female.”
Officials said Robert Elmi, 64, of Gillette, was sentenced today to three years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Candido Rodriguez in Union County after he pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 to a charge of luring a child.
According to officials, he will be required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to parole supervision for life.
Police said Elmo placed an ad on Craigslist soliciting a relationship with a younger female. An undercover State Police detective responded, posing as a young girl and indicating to Elmi that she was 13. Elmi communicated with the “13-year-old” for several weeks by text and email, ultimately arranging to meet her at a diner in Union County.
According to authorities, he told the “girl” he would take her back to his apartment, where they would drink, watch TV, kiss and perform oral sex on each other. Elmi was arrested by the State Police on Nov. 9, 2017 at the diner where he had gone to meet the girl.
Deputy Attorneys General Jamie Picard and Rachael Weeks prosecuted Elmi for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Julia Glass.
According to officials, Elmi was among 79 child predators and child pornography offenders arrested in “Operation Safety Net,” a nine-month, multi-agency child protection operation that concluded in November. The operation was conducted by the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which is led by the New Jersey State Police and includes the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), all 21 County Prosecutors’ Offices, and many other state, county and local law enforcement agencies.
Ten alleged “hands-on” offenders were arrested in Operation Safety Net, including seven other New Jersey men, as well as men in California and Indiana who allegedly tried to have children transported interstate from New Jersey by adult traffickers so they could have sex with the children.
In addition to investigating numerous cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the ICAC Task Force in Operation Safety Net conducted proactive investigations to apprehend offenders by monitoring peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and identifying the IP addresses of individuals sharing child pornography. Detectives also conducted undercover chat investigations on social media platforms, which led to arrests of alleged hands-on offenders and defendants attempting to lure children.
Attorney General Grewal and Director Honig urged anyone with information about the distribution of child pornography on the internet – or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.