Man Posed As Child's Father, Committed Sex Crime: Bergen County Prosecutor

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Pennsylvania man committed sex crimes against a child and brought the victim to various North Jersey locations while claiming to be the victim's father, prosecutors say.

Erickson Ledesma, 43, of West Hazleton, Pa. was charged Wednesday with criminal sexual contact, luring, impersonation, and endangering the welfare of a child, said the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors said that on May 13 of last year, the Wallington Police Department contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit about the alleged sexual assault of a juvenile.

An investigation determined that last April 30, Ledesma lured a child into his vehicle so that Ledesma could commit a crime against the child, prosecutors say.

Ledesma then went to a business and said he was the child’s father, prosecutors said. According to the criminal complaint in the case, he gave the child alcohol and touched the child's buttocks and inner thigh.

He endangered the child in Elmwood Park between April 30 and May 1, prosecutors said.

The man also brought the child to a location in Guttenberg on May 1, again identifying himself as the child's father, prosecutors said.

The criminal complaint in the case says the victim was under 16 but at least 13. It does not specify the type of business the man took the teen to. Prosecutors did not respond when asked about this by Patch.

Ledesma was charged with second-degree luring, two counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, and two counts of fourth-degree impersonation.

On Wednesday, Ledesma turned himself in to authorities in Paramus.

He was taken to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, prosecutors said.