Realtor Entering Pretrial Intervention In Teen Sex Case: Official

FREEHOLD, NJ -- A Brick Township real estate broker has been accepted into pretrial intervention in connection with charges that he tried to arrange through a prostitute to have sex with a teenager, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed.

Richard A. Jones, 67, of Brick, was indicted in January 2015 in the case, where he sought to have sex with a 14-year-old girl. Jones is the owner and real estate broker of Century 21 Herbertsville Real Estate Company, Inc., on Herbertsville Road in Brick. Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office, confirmed by email that Jones has been accepted into PTI.

Jones was arrested after he set up a meeting to have sex with a 14-year-old girl who turned out to be an undercover police officer, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said at the time of the arrest, which involved investigators from the Asbury Park, Englishtown and Wall Township police departments.

Pretrial intervention, which is available to first-time offenders, aims to rehabilitate the person -- enable them to solve the personal problems that led to crime, when it is believed that “such services can reasonably be expected to deter future criminal behavior,” according to the state judiciary website.

The PTI program includes supervision from one to three years, on average and can include random urine monitoring, and assessments for fees, penalties and fines, along with other conditions that could be imposed: performance of community service, payment of restitution, and submission to psychological and/or drug and alcohol evaluations with compliance to recommended treatment programs, the website says.

“If a defendant successfully completes all the conditions of PTI, then the original charges are dismissed and there is no record of conviction,” the website says. “If a defendant does not successfully complete the conditions of PTI, then the defendant is terminated from the PTI program and the case is returned to the trial list.”

Jones is charged with second-degree attempted sexual assault; he faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in a New Jersey state prison and would be subject to the provisions of Megan’s Law and community supervision for life if he was convicted.