NEW JERSEY MAN ARRAIGNED ON INDICTMENT CHARGING HIM WITH ATTEMPTED RAPE AND ATTEMPTED DISSEMINATING INDECENT MATERIALS TO MINORS AFTER UNDERCOVER CHILD EXPLOITATION INTERNET OPERATION

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh, II announced today that Carl Ellis, 55, of Maplewood, New Jersey, was arraigned on May 21, 2025, before the Honorable Kevin F. Russo in the County Court of Rockland County on an indictment charging him with one count of Attempted Rape in the Second Degree (PL Sec. 110/130.30(2)), one count of Attempted Disseminating Indecent Materials to Minors in the First Degree (PL Sec. 110/235.22) and one count of Attempted Endangering the Welfare of a Child (PL Sec. 110/260.10(1)).

On or about and between April 06, 2025, and April 07, 2025, defendant Ellis exchanged numerous sexually explicit text messages with an undercover investigator from the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce whom he met online. The undercover officer was posing as and identified themself as a thirteen-year-old boy during his exchanges with the defendant. On April 07, 2025, the defendant arranged to meet the undercover investigator in Rockland County and travelled to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Suffern, New York to engage in sexual contact with the undercover investigator. Upon his arrival at the hotel for the pre-arranged meet, the New York State Police Investigators arrested the defendant.

The case was investigated by the New York State Police Office Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office and the Town of Ramapo Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Supervising Assistant District Attorney Gerard M. Damiani III of the Special Victims Unit.

*It should be noted that an indictment is merely an accusation, and that a defendant should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.