TOMS RIVER -- A grand jury has indicted a Little Egg Harbor man accused of trying to lure a young girl into performing sex acts in return for a video game system.
Christopher Wilson
The indictment, returned Tuesday, charges Christopher Wilson, 20, with one count of attempted sexual assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said.
Wilson's case, which raised the ire of local police officers and prosecutors, was one of the first to be sent to a state appellate court after New Jersey adopted new bail rules that went into effect Jan. 1.
After his arrest on Jan. 19, Wilson was released without bail, which sparked concern from law enforcement officials that he would be in a position to prey on young girls while he waited for his case to go to trial.
An appellate court last month sent the case back to Superior Court for a new hearing after it found Judge Wendel E. Daniels did not detail his reasons for releasing Wilson.
Days later, Daniels directed that Wilson be held in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River without bail.
Wilson is accused of trying to solicit sexual favors from an 11-year-old girl in return for a video game system in May 2016 and then asking her to send him pictures of herself in a bikini in November 2016.
By that time, Wilson had been sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention facility in 2013 for twice violating probation on a 2010 juvenile sexual assault conviction, according to court documents.
The appellate court used Wilson's case to clarify what judges can take into consideration when deciding whether to release a person with no criminal record as an adult but an extensive one as a juvenile.
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