Ex-Rider Security Guard Sentenced For Sex With Underage Boy: PO

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ — A former security guard at Rider University has been sentenced to six years in New Jersey State prison after admitting to having sexual contact with an underage boy and possessing more than 1,000 images of child pornography, authorities announced.

Alan J. Berman, 58 of Bordentown City, previously pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and one count of third-degree aggravated sexual contact.
Berman will serve his sentence at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge, Middlesex County.

The facility, which houses sex offenders, is jointly operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections and the New Jersey Department of Human Services. He will be assessed for his public safety risk before being released. Upon release, he will be subject to parole supervision for life.

In September, Berman was charged with impersonating a teenage girl in order to convince a teenage boy to send him nude photos and videos of himself through an online video streaming application.

He was also accused of engaging in other sexually-explicit conversations with the teenage boy. When he was initially arrested, he was placed on administrative leave from the university. He has since been fired.

In October, Berman was hit with a second round of charges, in addition to providing children access to guns, marijuana and pornography.

The boy said Berman told him no one would believe him because of Berman's position as a captain in Bordentown's volunteer fire department.

“This defendant’s actions were particularly egregious because he pretended to care for the well-being of the boys he abused, when in reality, the only reason he had befriended them was to groom them into becoming victims,” Coffina said. “This sentence shields the victims from the additional trauma of having to testify and relive these events and, equally important, protects the public from any further wrongdoing by this defendant.”

The investigation into Berman’s actions began last year after the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit received intelligence from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning his online activities. NCMEC was told by an Arkansas woman that her teenage son was contacted online by a man – later identified as Berman – who was attempting to engage the teen in inappropriate conversations.