A New York man was charged with traveling to a Galloway Township hotel to have sex with a minor he allegedly extorted into meeting him.
Zachary Williams 33, of New York, was arrested Saturday, after traveling to New Jersey a second time to meet the minor.
He is charged with one count of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Williams met the minor in September 2020 via SnapChat, telling her he was 17 years old, according to the charges.
He asked the minor for nude photographs. When he received them, he started to "sextort" the girl by threatening to send the photographs to friends and family.
Williams convinced the victim to meet him at the Seaview A Dolce Hotel, after telling the girl she could delete the photos from his phone herself if she met him, according to the complaint.
The two had unprotected sex at the hotel Oct. 2, and then Williams made the girl take a Plan B pill in front of him.
He then allowed the girl to delete the photos.
But that didn't stop the blackmail, the complaint states.
Williams continued to send messages threatening to expose the victim's photographs. When she blocked him on one social media account, he would open new accounts continuing to harass her with names like “IWILLHURTYOU Iwilll_h2021,” “IWILLGETTHESWITCHBACK,” and
“Makeadealormomfindsout.”
The victim eventually told her parents, who met with police in December, sparking an investigation.
Law enforcement officers took over the victim’s social media accounts and began communicating with Williams while posing as the victim.
During those communications, he told the girl to "add pedos and flirt with them" and that "all I want is to continue to be your child molester."
After telling the girl "your (sic) going to be angry crying and sad when I expose you," Williams arranged to travel on March 13 to the same Atlantic County hotel to again have sex with the victim.
Law enforcement arrested Williams as he arrived at the hotel.
Williams is charged with interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. If convicted of this offense, Williams faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and lifetime supervised release.
NOTE: Federal mugshots are not released publicly.
