NJ Sex Offender Faces Federal Charges After NY Sting

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Registered sex offender Brian Reed, charged last week in Rockland County after a sex predator sting, also faces federal charges. SEE: Rockland County Sting Nets Sex Offender From Sussex, NJ

Reed is accused of communicating online with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl and attempting to meet the girl to engage in sexual activities — and with engaging in that offense while a registered sex offender.

"This case underlines the urgent need for law enforcement to continue its efforts to protect children from those who prey on them," Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in the announcement. "As this arrest shows, we will use every tool available to law enforcement to investigate and prosecute those who sexually exploit children.”

There may be other victims of this alleged conduct. If you have information to report, contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-800-CALL-FBI

According to the allegations in the complaint filed on May 31 in White Plains federal court:

On May 25 and 26, an investigator with the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl on various online social media platforms, communicated via text with Reed. Reed asked for sexually explicit photos and indicated that he wanted to meet with her for the purpose of having sex.

During the communications, the investigator referred on multiple occasions to the fact that she was 13 years old and also told Reed that “im a virgin still.” REED responded, “Thats ok.”

He told the agent that he wanted to speak by phone and did so on a number of occasions, prosecutors said. During their calls, they discussed meeting in person and Reed described in detail various sexual activities that he wanted to engage in. He said he was excited to meet her and that he could “teach [her] some things.”

They made a plan to meet at a park in Rockland County.

On May 26, at 11:35 p.m., he arrived at a parking lot near the agreed-upon meeting spot and parked his car.

As he began to walk toward the investigator, who was waiting at the meeting spot, he was arrested.

Following his arrest, he admitted, among other things, that he communicated with an individual he believed was 13 years old and made a plan to meet her so that he could have sex with her.

In addition, he said that he had been convicted of a sex offense and was a registered sex offender. that happened in 2016. Reed was convicted in Morris County Superior Court, New Jersey, of Endangering the Welfare of a Child Through Sexual Conduct and sentenced to three years in prison. He was required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Now, Reed, 33, is charged with one count of attempted enticement of a minor, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, and one count of committing the offense of attempted enticement while a registered sex offender, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years to be imposed consecutively to any sentence of imprisonment imposed for the crime itself.

The statutory minimum and maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing will be determined by the judge.

Following his appearance June 2, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause ordered that he be detained.

He had been charged in Clarkstown Justice Court May 27 with Attempted Rape in the 2nd Degree and Disseminating Indecent material to minors.

Williams praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, Rockland County District Attorney’s Office Special Investigations Unit, Rockland County District Attorney’s Office Special Victims Unit, Town of Clarkstown Police Department, and the Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, which is comprised of special agents and task force officers from the FBI, U.S. Probation, New York State Police, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Westchester County DAs Office, Rockland County DAs Office, NYPD, Westchester County PD, and the Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Greenburgh, White Plains, Peekskill, Ramapo, and Clarkstown Police Departments.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Marcia S. Cohen is in charge of the prosecution.