Essex County Youth Sports Videographer Indicted On Sex Offense Charges

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An Essex County resident who ran a video production company focused on youth sports was indicted Thursday on charges that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy on multiple occasions.

The alleged sexual contact between the 14-year-old and Ethan Z. Chandler, 43, of Belleville, came to light as the result of an undercover investigation by the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigation Unit, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

During that investigation, Chandler allegedly communicated via a mobile chat app with an individual he believed was a 13-year-old boy, attempting to lure the boy for a sexual encounter, prosecutors said.

The “boy” in reality was an undercover detective, and Chandler was arrested in December.

Prosecutors said that Chandler operated a video production company which involved filming sports events at schools across the region and brought him into close contact with children. He posted weekly video highlight packages of high school football on YouTube.

A YouTube video channel created by “Ethan Chandler,” owner of Primetime Sports, has more than 2,200 subscribers. The channel’s most recent video was posted nine months ago.

State police detectives have determined that Chandler resided in Bergen, Essex, and Morris Counties while living in New Jersey. He also lived in the towns of Norwalk, Stamford, and Monroe in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and the mid-1990s, Davidson County, Tennessee.

• See related article: N.J. Filmmaker Accused Of Sex Assaults; Cops Seek Potential Victims

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION

Prosecutors said that the undercover investigation by the State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit (DTIU) began when detectives spotted an ad allegedly placed by Chandler on Craigslist soliciting oral sex with a young man. An undercover detective with the DTIU responded to the ad, indicating to Chandler that he was a 13-year-old boy.

Chandler allegedly asked the undercover officer to communicate with him using the mobile chat app Kik, then engaged in sexually explicit chats with the “teen” using the app. Chandler allegedly wrote that he knew the teen was 13, but did not care, prosecutors charged.

He allegedly asked the purported teen to meet him in Woodbridge to perform a sex act, but postponed the meeting at the last minute, prosecutors said. He was eventually arrested in December 2016, when state police executed a search warrant at his apartment and seized computers, his cell phone and other potential evidence.

Chandler was initially lodged in the Essex County Jail, but posted $200,000 bail and was released subject to a sex offense restraining order, prosecutors stated. Evidence seized during the search assisted detectives to later identify and locate a 14-year-old victim whom Chandler allegedly brought to his apartment and had sex with on at least three occasions, prosecutors said.

Chandler was arrested again on Dec. 7 as a result of the ongoing investigation by the state police and the Division of Criminal Justice Financial and Computer Crimes Bureau.

On Thursday, the Division of Criminal Justice Financial and Computer Crimes Bureau obtained a state grand jury indictment charging Chandler with the following crimes:

• Luring a Child (2nd degree)
• Sexual Assault of a Minor (2nd degree)
• Criminal Sexual Contact (4th degree)

Prosecutors said that the Livingston Police Department previously arrested Chandler in February 2014 during a separate encounter at the Livingston Mall, where he was allegedly discovered in a bathroom kissing a young man who appeared to be a minor.

Chandler pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct related to that arrest.

• See related article: N.J. Teen Sex Assault Suspect Kissed Minor In Livingston Mall Bathroom, Prosecutor Says

Victims or someone with knowledge of a possible victim can call the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit at (609) 584-5051 ext. 5624, or email at hitech@gw.njsp.org.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo: Ethan Z. Chandler, NJ State Police