A border patrol agent will be crossing state lines to face charges in New Jersey after getting nabbed in an undercover child predator investigation.
Harry Marvelle Peless III, 51, of Newport, Michigan, is being prosecuted in New Jersey and in federal court after communicating with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Accused predator on the job
The girl, however, was an undercover agent in Morris County.
Authorities say Peless sent obscene material to the undercover agent and tried to get the girl to run away with him.
Authorities said he sent the undercover agent explicit images of himself as well as an image of child pornography.
Peless was working as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Michigan. Officials said his perverted chats happened while he was on the job.
Charges against border patrol agent
In New Jersey, he is charged with second-degree attempted sexual assault; second0degree child endangerment by sharing child sex abuse material; third-degree child endangerment by sexual conduct; third-degree obscenity; fourth-degree attempted criminal sexual contact.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan have charged him with attempted transfer of obscene material of a minor.
NJ teachers and educators caught in sex crime busts
The following individuals were arrested and charged in 2021 and several years earlier. Some were convicted and sentenced to prison.
Others accepted plea deals for probation and some cases were still pending.
Gallery Credit: Erin Vogt
