MERCER COUNTY, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A New Jersey man ordered a ride-share to bring someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sex to his home last week, authorities said.
Instead, Todd Merinuk spent weeks chatting on social media with an undercover detective posing as the teen girl, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday.
The 27-year-old's chat with the "girl" included "multiple sexually explicit messages," a sexually explicit photo sent by Merinuk and statements by Merinuk that "he wanted to meet in person to engage in various sexual acts."
On March 16, Merinuk dispatched a ride-share vehicle to an address in Mercer County to pick up the "14-year-old" and to pick up the person with whom he’d been communicating to his location in Gloucester County.
Prosecutors said Merinuk was taken into custody without incident after being duped into believing the victim had arrived at his location.
Merinuk is charged with two counts of second-degree attempted sexual assault, three counts of third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child and one count of second-degree attempted luring.
The prosecutor's office has filed a motion to detain Merinuk pending trial.
Anyone with information about suspected improper contact with children via the internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children is asked to call the prosecutor’s office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit at 609-989-6568 or the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tip line at 888- 648-6007.
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