David Herman, 77, of Airmont, N.Y., and St. Croix, was arrested Thursday at the St. Croix airport, where federal authorities said he had expected to meet the girl and her mother flying in from New York.
Herman thought he'd been corresponding online with a woman about her child but was actually talking to an undercover officer from Bergen County in New Jersey, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
The U.S. attorney's office confirmed Herman had worked at FM radio station WNEW, where he was a pioneering rock 'n' roll disc jockey. Herman was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Friday in St. Croix.
Prosecutors said they had not been notified as of Thursday afternoon whether Herman had a lawyer. No phone listing was found for him in Airmont.
Herman allegedly believed he was communicating with a 36-year-old single mother with a young daughter, according to court papers. He allegedly tried, in multiple telephone and online conversations, to arrange illegal sexual encounters with the child in New York and Bergen County, until indicating he wanted to fly the pair to St. Croix so he could engage in sexual activity with the child there, prosecutors said.
Herman purchased airline tickets Sept. 30 for the woman and her child to fly from LaGuardia airport to St. Croix, according to prosecutors. He arrived at the airport Thursday to pick up the woman and child, according to the U.S. attorney's office, but was instead met by special agents of U.S. Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who placed him under arrest.
Herman is charged with a count of attempting to transport a minor in interstate commerce with the intent that the minor engage in illegal sexual activity. If convicted, the charge can carry up to life in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
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