Chelsea O'Donnell: Told NJ Man She Was 19

Written by PATRICIA A. MILLER (Patch Staff)

Rosie O’Donnell’s teenage daughter told an Ocean County Superior Court Judge on Friday that she misrepresented her age when she met Steven M. Sheerer online and told him she was 19, according to app.com.

Chelsea O‘Donnell appeared Friday before Ocean County Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels. Her attorney, Robert L. Tarver Jr. told Daniels that she misrepresented herself as an adult to Sheerer on the online dating site Tinder. O‘Donnell was 17 at the time of Sheerer‘s arrest and has since turned 18.

Sheerer was arrested at his Barnegat home on Aug. 21 and charged with knowingly distributing obscene images to a minor, specifically a nude photo over the Internet and endangering the welfare of a child, an Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman has said.

O’Donnell was found at Sheerer’s Village Drive in the attic with her therapy dog Bear. Her mother reported her missing earlier in the day, authorities have said.

Sheerer—who has had a prior heroin conviction history—was arrested after an investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit (HTCU), and the Barnegat and Long Beach Township police departments, spokesman Al Della Fave has said.

Tarver told Daniels that O’Donnell wants to see Sheerer and asked the judge to lift an order that prohibits him from having contact with her.

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Photo credit: Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office