By John Burton
FREEHOLD – Detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Wall, Asbury Park and Englishtown arrested a Brick Township-based real estate broker on Friday after he allegedly set up a meeting to have sex with a 14-year-old girl, who turned out to be an undercover police officer.
Following an investigation conducted by the prosecutor’s Special Victim’s Bureau and the three municipal departments, authorities arrested Richard J. Jones, 66, and charged him with second-degree attempted sexual assault, according to Charles Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Jones is the owner of Century 21 Herbertsville Real Estate Company, Inc., Herbertsville Road, Brick.
He allegedly contacted a local prostitute to facilitate a sexual liaison with the underage girl, Webster said.
Jones is currently being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold, on $125,000 bail without the option to post a 10 percent bond. As a condition of his bail, Jones is prohibited from having any contact with the prostitute who he had sought out to contact the underage girl, according to Webster.
A conviction on the attempted sexual assault charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in state prison and is subject to the provisions of Megan’s Law, requiring the defendant to submit to community supervision for life as a condition of release, according to Webster.
