A New York man was set to be arraigned for allegedly hacking Facebook accounts and stalking teenage girls to try and have sex with them.
40-year-old Clifford W. Wares is accused of using the social-networking site to contact five (5) female victims between the ages of 13 and 15.
According to the Passaic County prosecutor, Mr. Wares allegedly hacked the teens’ Facebook accounts, copied their friends’ profile photos, and set up phony accounts to communicate with the young women.
The prosecutor stated that Mr. Wares is accused of acquiring the girls’ cell phone numbers through the Facebook accounts and then using those phone numbers to attempt to have phone sex with them. According to the prosecutor, Mr. Wares also attempted to obtain nude photos of the girls.
Additionally, Mr. Wares is accused of convincing two (2) of the girls to meet him at a public place, where he allegedly gave them alcohol and told them that he wanted to have sex with them.
Police became aware of Mr. Wares’ conduct after one of his alleged victims told her father about the communications.
Mr. Wares was arrested at a campsite in Smith Clove Park in New York. Police found on Mr. Wares a black bag containing handcuffs, a roll of duct tape, a folding knife, and a pair of blue latex gloves.
Mr. Wares has been charged with second degree attempted sexual assault, luring or enticing a child, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal sexual contact, stalking, and terroristic threats, in addition to other related charges.
In New Jersey, sexual assault is addressed by N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2b and N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2c. If convicted of second degree sexual assault, Mr. Wares could be sentenced to up to ten (10) years in New Jersey State Prison. And because the No Early Release Act (NERA) applies to sexual assault convictions, Mr. Wares could be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Beyond that, Mr. Wares could be subject to Megan’s Law Registration upon his release from prison.
Mr. Wares was extradited from New York and is being held at the Passaic County Jail on $750,000.00 bail.
For more information, see the NJ.com article entitled “New York Man Used Facebook to Sexually Stalk Teen Girls, Passaic Prosecutor Says.”
