British Man Traveled To Bergen County To Pay For Sex With Minor Girls: Feds

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A British man has pleaded guilty to paying money in hopes of having sex with minor girls in New Jersey, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Stephen Hudson, 53, of Ealing, England, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz in Newark federal court to an information charging him with possession of child pornography and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, said the office of U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger.

Earlier court documents said that Hudson, a sex offender in England, had traveled to Woodcliff Lake, in Bergen County, in 2022 and met with an undercover police officer. He offered the officer money for sex with minor girls, prosecutors said.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

From April 14, 2022, to May 6, 2022, Hudson used an encrypted email account to communicate with undercover federal law enforcement officers, hoping to "facilitate his access to and sexual abuse of two minor female children," prosecutors say.

Hudson agreed to travel from Massachusetts to New Jersey and pay approximately $1,200 in cash in exchange for sexual acts with 11- and 12-year-old girls, as well as for being supplied with illicit drugs that would be given to the girls.

On May 6, 2022, Hudson traveled to an agreed-upon location in New Jersey for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with two minors, prosecutors say. That was when he gave $1,200 in cash to the undercover law enforcement agent. After he offered the money, he was arrested, prosecutors said.

A subsequent search of a laptop computer belonging to Hudson revealed 1,751 images depicting child sexual abuse, including kids under 12, and "material portraying the sexual abuse and exploitation of infants and toddlers," say prosecutors.

Sentencing

The charge of possession of child pornography carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.

The charge of interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct carries a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Nadel of the General Crimes Unit in Newark.

Read more about the case here.