Update: N.J. state Sen. Codey wants to beef up luring laws after North Jersey incidents

Responding to a rash of luring attempts reported statewide, state Sen. Richard J. Codey introduced legislation Thursday aimed at strengthening the penalties for those convicted of the crime.

“If you lure, you will be sure to go to jail,” Codey said Thursday.

Under current statute, luring is a second-degree crime, with sentencing for first-time offenders left to a judge’s discretion. A mandatory prison sentence of at least three years kicks in only after subsequent offenses, or if the defendant has been convicted of other sex crimes.

Codey, D-Essex, said his bill – the text of which will be made available next week – would increase the penalty for first-time offenders to a five-year minimum prison term.

Since mid-September, at least 18 luring attempts have been reported in Bergen County and three in Passaic County, leaving anxious residents and police departments on high alert. At least one incident was reported Thursday afternoon. A 12-year-old boy said he was walking west on Monroe Street in Passaic around 3:50 p.m. when a man in a black, four-door vehicle approached him and said, “Hey kid, I heard your mother’s in the hospital. Get in. I’ll give you a ride and take you to her,” said Detective Andy White of the Passaic police.

Rather than do as the man said, White said, the boy asked the driver to tell him his mother’s name. When the man couldn’t answer, the boy ran home and told his mother what had happened. The suspect, described only as a white or Hispanic man, was last seen driving toward Route 21 south, White said.

Police in Dumont, meanwhile, declined to comment on a report of a luring attempt at Washington and Grant avenues on Thursday night. However, the Paramus and Saddle Brook police released details Thursday of luring attempts that allegedly occurred earlier this month.

A Paramus resident told police this week that his 10-year-old son was approached by a man in a black or gray vehicle as he walked home from school on Oct. 11. The boy said that he was walking along Lucky Hollow Drive around 2:45 p.m. when the man asked him if he needed a ride home. The child ignored him and the suspect – described as a white man with a full head of hair and facial stubble — drove away, police said.

A day later, an older white man is believed to have approached a teenage girl as she walked on Fifth Street near Market Street in Saddle Brook, said Deputy Chief Robert White of the Saddle Brook police.

The girl, a 17-year-old Saddle Brook High School senior, told police that, around 1 p.m. Oct. 12, she was stopped by a man in a light-colored sport-utility vehicle who asked her if she needed a ride. The girl called her mother, and the man, who appeared to be in his 50s, drove off, White said Thursday.

The Saddle Brook police were also investigating a second suspicious incident, in which a 14-year-old girl said that she had been walking along Saddle River Road around 5:50 p.m. on Oct. 17 when a middle-aged white man drove by slowly in a light-colored four-door vehicle. He did not talk to the girl, but he appeared to take pictures of her with either a camera or a cellphone, White said.

“She felt it was unusual,” White said.

“It’s an incredibly sad commentary, what’s going on in Bergen County,” Codey said Thursday. The murder of a 12-year-old girl in Gloucester County earlier this week, he said, added urgency to efforts to revise the law.

Codey said the targets of the new legislation would be people who lure children for purposes of sexual or violent crimes.

“This will send a message that we will not stand by and allow our communities to be terrorized by pedophiles or anyone else seeking to cause our children harm,” he said.

Update: N.J. state Sen. Codey wants to beef up luring laws after North Jersey incidents

Responding to a rash of luring attempts reported statewide, state Sen. Richard J. Codey introduced legislation Thursday aimed at strengthening the penalties for those convicted of the crime.

“If you lure, you will be sure to go to jail,” Codey said Thursday.

Under current statute, luring is a second-degree crime, with sentencing for first-time offenders left to a judge’s discretion. A mandatory prison sentence of at least three years kicks in only after subsequent offenses, or if the defendant has been convicted of other sex crimes.

Codey, D-Essex, said his bill – the text of which will be made available next week – would increase the penalty for first-time offenders to a five-year minimum prison term.

Since mid-September, at least 18 luring attempts have been reported in Bergen County and three in Passaic County, leaving anxious residents and police departments on high alert. At least one incident was reported Thursday afternoon. A 12-year-old boy said he was walking west on Monroe Street in Passaic around 3:50 p.m. when a man in a black, four-door vehicle approached him and said, “Hey kid, I heard your mother’s in the hospital. Get in. I’ll give you a ride and take you to her,” said Detective Andy White of the Passaic police.

Rather than do as the man said, White said, the boy asked the driver to tell him his mother’s name. When the man couldn’t answer, the boy ran home and told his mother what had happened. The suspect, described only as a white or Hispanic man, was last seen driving toward Route 21 south, White said.

Police in Dumont, meanwhile, declined to comment on a report of a luring attempt at Washington and Grant avenues on Thursday night. However, the Paramus and Saddle Brook police released details Thursday of luring attempts that allegedly occurred earlier this month.

A Paramus resident told police this week that his 10-year-old son was approached by a man in a black or gray vehicle as he walked home from school on Oct. 11. The boy said that he was walking along Lucky Hollow Drive around 2:45 p.m. when the man asked him if he needed a ride home. The child ignored him and the suspect – described as a white man with a full head of hair and facial stubble — drove away, police said.

A day later, an older white man is believed to have approached a teenage girl as she walked on Fifth Street near Market Street in Saddle Brook, said Deputy Chief Robert White of the Saddle Brook police.

The girl, a 17-year-old Saddle Brook High School senior, told police that, around 1 p.m. Oct. 12, she was stopped by a man in a light-colored sport-utility vehicle who asked her if she needed a ride. The girl called her mother, and the man, who appeared to be in his 50s, drove off, White said Thursday.

The Saddle Brook police were also investigating a second suspicious incident, in which a 14-year-old girl said that she had been walking along Saddle River Road around 5:50 p.m. on Oct. 17 when a middle-aged white man drove by slowly in a light-colored four-door vehicle. He did not talk to the girl, but he appeared to take pictures of her with either a camera or a cellphone, White said.

“She felt it was unusual,” White said.

“It’s an incredibly sad commentary, what’s going on in Bergen County,” Codey said Thursday. The murder of a 12-year-old girl in Gloucester County earlier this week, he said, added urgency to efforts to revise the law.

Codey said the targets of the new legislation would be people who lure children for purposes of sexual or violent crimes.

“This will send a message that we will not stand by and allow our communities to be terrorized by pedophiles or anyone else seeking to cause our children harm,” he said.