The foreman of the Sussex Borough Department of Public Works
was arrested yesterday and charged with trying to lure two
boys into having sexual relations with him through Internet
chat room conversations, a state law enforcement official
said.
Jeffery Card, 49, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. outside his Munson
Street home following an online undercover investigation into
the chat sessions, said John Hagerty, spokesman for the state
Division of Criminal Justice.
In addition to trying to have sex with the boys, Card also
committed lewd sexual acts via the Internet, Haggerty said.
The alleged offenses occurred between March 28 and April 16,
said Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Sharpe, who presented
the state's case to Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti
yesterday afternoon.
During the chat sessions, Card told the boys that he was planning
to travel to Mexico, Sharpe told the judge. Sharpe said the
offenses occurred while Card used a computer at work.
Card, an 18-year employee of the DPW, was charged with second-degree
attempted sexual assault, second-degree official misconduct
and attempted endangerment of a minor and attempted criminal
contact with a minor, both third-degree charges. A second-degree
crime carries a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.
While maintaining Card's bail at $100,000 with no 10 percent
option, Conforti ordered Card to surrender his passport, to
stay in New Jersey, to stay off the Internet and to stay away
from minors.
The judge also said Card, who is single, did not qualify for
a public defender and ordered him to retain his own attorney.
He earns about $60,000 per year as a Sussex borough employee.
"I need to take care of my mother," Card told the
judge without elaborating during a court hearing yesterday
afternoon.
Mayor Katherine Little, who has worked with Card since she
joined the borough council in 1987, said she was surprised
by Card's arrest.
"I always found him to be very professional. He seemed
to work well with everyone and always had the interest of
the town in his heart," she said.
