'Teen' That South Jersey Man Sent Nudes To Was Undercover Officer, Officials Say

EVESHAM TWP., NJ — Daniel R. Gallagher was looking to meet with a 13-year-old girl for sex at the Staples store on Route 70, officials said.

Instead, investigators from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office High-Tech Crimes Unit, the Evesham Township Police Department and United States Homeland Security Investigations – Cherry Hill Office arrested him when he showed up last Wednesday afternoon.

Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Evesham Township Police Chief Walt Miller announced Gallagher's charges on Friday. They said Gallagher believed "he would be having sex with the 13-year-old girl he met through a chat app and had been texting with over the last several weeks."

The "girl" was a law enforcement officer looking for sexual predators online, Miller and Bradshaw said.

Gallagher, 48, of the first block of Willow Ridge Road, was charged with Attempting to Lure a Minor (Second Degree), Attempted Sexual Assault (Second Degree), Debauching the Morals of a Child (Third Degree), Providing Obscenity to a Minor (Third Degree), and Attempted Criminal Sexual Contact (Fourth Degree), officials said.

"The investigation began earlier this summer after Gallagher’s online activities were discovered by law enforcement officials," Bradshaw and Miller said in a news release. "Prior to orchestrating the rendezvous, Gallagher sent nude photos and videos to the girl he believed he would be meeting."

Gallagher is in the Burlington County Jail ahead of a detention hearing in superior court. Officials said the case will be prepared for presentation to a grand jury, "for possible indictment."