Ocean Twp. Man Lured Underage Girl Online, Prosecutor Says

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ — An Ocean Township man was arrested Tuesday and charged with committing sexual acts while on an online gaming video chat with an underage female victim.

Barton Cross-Tierney, 29, of Franklin Avenue in Ocean Township was charged with luring and endangering the welfare of a child, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.

Police say Cross-Tierney first started talking to the juvenile girl on Discord, an online platform originally created for video gamers to talk with each other, as well as send photos and video. Police say Cross-Tierney, under the username "Barton Cross" created and led a group of users on Discord.

In December 2018, the juvenile girl victim contacted the FBI tipline and reported that she had engaged in an inappropriate online relationship with an adult man from Ocean, NJ, with the Discord username “Barton Cross," police allege.

Barton Cross committed sexual acts while in a video chat with the juvenile victim, said the county prosecutor.

Members of the Computer Crimes Unit of the Monmouth County prosecutor's office, working with the FBI and Ocean Twp. police, determined “Barton Cross” to be Cross-Tierney, and matched him to his home address on Franklin Parkway.

The county prosecutor's team continues to seek names of other potential victims that belonged to the Discord group created by Barton Cross.

Anyone with additional information about this case is asked to contact Detective Tiffany Lenart of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-800-533-7443, or the FBI in Newark at 973-792-3000.

Cross-Tierney was charged with second-degree luring, two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child for debauching the morals of a child, and two counts of third-degree promoting obscenity to a minor. According to this report on NJ.com, he has also been arrested before and charged with a sexting a nude photo to a 15-year-old girl.