An Atlantic City man accused of luring an underage teen to his job at a hotel for a sexual encounter will not be held in jail, a judge ruled.
He had allegedly been talking to 15-year-old Jay, who was coming to meet him. But it was really Decker, who had alerted Egg Harbor Township police and provided them with the text messages between the two.
Decker said the messages showed Melton knew the boy's age within 10 minutes of the conversation, but continued talking to him, inviting him to the motel and even talking on the phone.
“So you didn’t even question the fact that he was underage,” Decker says to Melton in the video. “Why?’
“I already have an experience already. That’s why,” Melton responds.
He never goes into detail about other incidents with teens, only acknowledging that he did tell “Jay” he was talking to a 16 year old, which Melton adds is the age of consent in New Jersey.
"This is a vigilante situation," Judge Patricia Wild said during the detention hearing Wednesday. "The victim here doesn't exist."
Melton has no prior criminal offenses, but is on one year of probation from a disorderly conduct offense from last year.
He is now charged with second-degree child luring.
Wild released him with the warning that he not post anything on social media about the incident nor respond to anything on social media about it. He also cannot have someone post on his behalf.
