A 48-year-old man and a 13-year-old Somers Point girl exchanged hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos online before the man was arrested when he tried to meet the girl, according to the affidavit read in court Thursday.
"The facts and circumstances of this case are simply disturbing and chilling," Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Flammer said.
Dean Leon suffers from severe mental issues and there are competency issues, defense attorney John Bjorklund told the judge during a detention hearing.
Leon and the girl each told the other they were in their 20s when they first started talking online, according to the charges. But the girl soon told him she was 15 — still adding two years to her true age.
The news that the girl had not yet been born when Leon married his wife 17 years ago did not stop the relationship, however, Flammer said.
Instead, Leon said he would wait three years to marry her.
From Oct. 16, 2016 until March 31, the two shared 100s of sexually explicit photos and videos, Superior Court Judge Michael Blee said, reading from the affidavit. But, when Leon planned to travel from his home in Pennsylvania to meet the girl in Somers Point, she got scared and told her father. That is when Leon was arrested.
He admitted to an intent to take the girl across state lines, and also to having previously undiscovered sexually explicit conduct with his stepdaughter when she was underage, Flammer said in court.
"(Leon) needs to be institutionalized and treated and evaluated," Bjorklund said as. "The jail is not the appropriate place to do that."
Leon has documented mental health issues, including clinical depression and bipolar issues, the attorney said, adding that Leon recently began hearing voices.
"The defendant is clearly a risk to the community," Blee said in ordering him detained.
He said that if Leon is moved to a mental health facility, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office should be notified immediately.
