East Newark Man, 19, Charged in Child Exploitation Case Prosecutors Say Began on Roblox
Hudson County prosecutors say a 12-year-old girl met someone on Roblox who told her to create and send explicit material, and they have charged a 19-year-old East Newark man.
What happened
Where it happened
- East Newark, Hudson County.
What remains unclear
- In June, the Colerain Township Police Department in Ohio contacted Hudson County's Special Victims Unit about an investigation it was already running, prosecutors said.
- The investigation found that a 12-year-old girl met someone through Roblox who was instructing her to create and send child sexual abuse material.
- Investigators identified Martes as the person who contacted her, and later found child sexual abuse material stored on his electronic devices, according to prosecutors.
A 12-year-old girl. A gaming app. And, prosecutors say, a 19-year-old in East Newark on the other end of the conversation.
Benjamin Martes, 19, of East Newark, was arrested at his home on Friday, Nov. 6, by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Prosecutor Wayne Mello said. He is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child by facilitating child sexual abuse material and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child by possessing child sexual abuse material.
The case started hundreds of miles away. In June, the Colerain Township Police Department in Ohio contacted Hudson County's Special Victims Unit about an investigation it was already running, prosecutors said. The investigation found that a 12-year-old girl met someone through Roblox who was instructing her to create and send child sexual abuse material. Investigators identified Martes as the person who contacted her, and later found child sexual abuse material stored on his electronic devices, according to prosecutors.
After the arrest, Martes was taken to the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending his first court appearance, prosecutors said. Mello credited the Special Victims Unit, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Colerain Township police with the investigation.
Prosecutors have not said when that first court appearance is scheduled. The charges are accusations, and Martes is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.
Source: Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.
File photo: Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City. Photo: ajay_suresh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped).
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