TRENTON – A Manchester man will be spending seven years in state prison after attempting to lure a 15-year old boy he met on social media for a sexual encounter according to a report by Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.
Thomas K. Blumensteel, 48, was sentenced to state prison today. The “boy” in reality was an undercover detective participating in “Operation Open House,” a multi-agency undercover operation in Sept. 2018 led by the Attorney General’s Office.
That probe resulted in 24 arrests of men who allegedly were using social media to lure underage girls and boys for sexual activity.
Blumensteel’s sentence also includes five years of parole ineligibility. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Therese A. Cunningham in Ocean County. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 9, to a charge of second-degree luring. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life.
It was reported that Blumensteel is a repeat sex offender. He was sentenced to three years in New Jersey State Prison in 1997 for aggravated criminal sexual contact for sexually assaulting a boy, 13, whom he was supervising as a church counselor.
Deputy Attorney General Rachael Weeks prosecuted Blumensteel and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial and Cyber Crimes Bureau.
Blumensteel was arrested in September 2018 during Operation Open House by an undercover detective who encountered him the prior week on social media. Blumensteel believed the undercover agent was a 15-year-old boy and he asked the “boy” to meet him for sexual activity.
During the exchanges, Blumensteel discussed the sexual acts they would perform when they met. He was arrested on Sept. 6, 2018 when he arrived at Toms River house where dozens of officers and agents participating in the operation were prepared to arrest offenders and process any evidence seized.
In the last 14 months, the Division of Criminal Justice, the New Jersey State Police, and members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including federal, state, county, and local law enforcement partners, have arrested 59 alleged child predators in three major undercover operations in Ocean, Bergen, and Somerset counties.
On Oct. 31, the Attorney General and Somerset County Prosecutor Michael Robertson announced 19 arrests of predators in “Operation Open Door.”
[adrotate banner="278"]“This seven-year prison sentence sends a strong message that we will aggressively prosecute child predators,” Grewal said. “As long as sex offenders like Blumensteel target children, we will continue our collaborative law enforcement efforts to arrest them. We are working hard every day to protect children, and we urge parents to do their part by talking to their children about social media and the dangers posed by online predators.”
“We want sexual predators like Blumensteel to know that the vulnerable child they seek to lure on social media may turn out to be a law enforcement officer,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice.
Allende added, “New Jersey has tough laws targeting child predators and those who download and distribute child pornography, and we will continue to use them to put dangerous offenders behind bars.”
In addition to investigating cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, members of the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit, the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Cyber Crimes Bureau, and the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force routinely conduct undercover chat investigations on social media platforms leading to arrests of hands-on offenders and defendants attempting to lure children. They also conduct proactive investigations to apprehend offenders by monitoring peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and identifying the IP addresses of individuals sharing child pornography.
The Attorney General and Allende urge anyone with information about the distribution of child pornography on the internet – or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.
