PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A judge on Monday ordered a New Jersey man previously convicted of sexually assaulting a minor to be held, pending a bail hearing, after federal agents arrested him in a sting on charges he traveled to Rhode Island to have sex with someone he thought was an 8-year-old girl. Donald Jones, 46, had been communicating online with...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A judge on Monday ordered a New Jersey man previously convicted of sexually assaulting a minor to be held, pending a bail hearing, after federal agents arrested him in a sting on charges he traveled to Rhode Island to have sex with someone he thought was an 8-year-old girl.
Donald Jones, 46, had been communicating online with an undercover federal agent he believed to be the girl's father, the agent wrote in an affidavit. The agent had contacted Jones after spotting a note he had posted online soliciting parents of young children to allow him to have sexual contact with their daughters, the affidavit said.
Jones, of Pemberton, was convicted in 1993 of sexually assaulting a girl under age 13. He also was convicted in 2004 and 2009 on lesser charges of endangering the welfare of children.
The U.S. attorney for Rhode Island, Peter F. Neronha, said the allegations underlying Friday's arrest of Jones "are a grim reminder that there are individuals who would go to great lengths to victimize those who are the most vulnerable — our children."
Jones bragged to the undercover agent that he had had sexual contact with a number of girls ages 4 to 8 and, before arriving in Rhode Island, had booked a hotel in Warwick, where he planned to meet the 8-year-old and her father, the affidavit said.
Jones told authorities he also was "grooming" two New Jersey sisters, aged 4 and 6, to molest later, a federal prosecutor said in court Monday. Jones told the undercover agent that he knows the sisters' grandmother, prosecutors said.
Authorities in New Jersey have identified the girls and are interviewing them and their caretaker, prosecutor Mary Rogers said.
The court entered a plea of not guilty on Jones' behalf. Jones' lawyer, Charles A. Tamuleviz, declined to comment on the case.
Jones, who could face a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted, is scheduled for a bail hearing on April 15.