Marlboro Man Arrested In Huge NJ Child Pornography Sting

MARLBORO, NJ - A local man faces a series of child pornography charges after being nabbed in a massive state child porn sting, authorities said.

Craig Kirschner, 39, was arrested on Aug. 21 and charged by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office with luring a child, attempted sexual assault of a minor and conveying obscene material to a minor. Kirschner is charged with soliciting an undercover detective, whom he believed to be a 15-year-old male, to meet for oral sex. The detective was monitoring a mobile app when he encountered Kirschner. After the undercover detective identified himself as a 15-year-old boy, Kirschner sent him photos of an erect penis, asked him to meet for oral sex, and stated “I can be generous for your trouble," according to Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino who said Kirschner was one of 79 child pornography offenders in “Operation Safety Net,” a nine-month, multi-agency child protection initiative led by the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Partnering agencies targeted sex offenders who exploited the internet and social media, making arrests in every New Jersey county and deploying, for the first time, a new van equipped as a mobile cyber forensics lab, as well as a new canine trained to sniff out electronic devices, to assist in execution of search warrants.

Those arrested in Operation Safety Net included 10 “hands-on” offenders, including child predators 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; four men in New Jersey who allegedly sought to lure children for sex; a camp counselor who allegedly sexually assaulted a girl, 14, under his supervision; a youth minister who allegedly sent lewd photos of himself to a young girl; and a man, 24, who allegedly used a phone app to record underage girls performing sex acts on themselves.

Those arrested also included numerous defendants, ranging in age from 14 to 75, who allegedly amassed or distributed large collections of child pornography, including a Trenton police officer, a swimming coach, a piano teacher, an IT professional from Morris County who authorities charge had more than 138,000 files of suspected child pornography, a mechanic from Mercer County who allegedly had over 10,000 files of child porn, and three brothers in Cumberland County who is charged with possessing nearly 5,000 files of child pornography.

Many of those charged used computers to facilitate the offenses, authorities said. Image via Shutterstock.