Flemington resident accused of soliciting photos from children he met on the Nintendo Network
Thomas Pirretti TRENTON -- A Hunterdon County man previously ensnared in a state child porn crackdown was indicted Tuesday on charges he used a video game network to solicit sexually explicit photos from underage girls, authorities said.
Thomas A. Pirretti, of Flemington, is accused of repeatedly calling an autistic 16-year-old girl in California and convincing her to send him nude pictures in October 2014, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
Pirretti's attorney, Darren Gelber, said Tuesday that his client has developmental disabilities of his own. He criticized prosecutors for painting the 33-year-old as a dangerous predator.
"If he's such a danger, why did it take them so long to bring an indictment?" Gelber asked a reporter.
State authorities say the incident with the girl in California was not isolated. In November 2014, Pirretti allegedly attempted to convince an 11-year-old Colorado girl to send him nude photos. That girl did not send any images and told her father, who referred the incident to local police, authorities said.
At the time, Pirretti was already facing charges from "Operation Predator Alert," a 2014 crackdown on child pornography distribution.
In both cases, state investigators claim Pirretti first made contact with the young girls over the Nintendo Network, an online service accessed by players of the company's video games.
Gelber said his client, who is on the autism spectrum and has Tourette syndrome, used the service to communicate with people of all ages.
"It's clear to us that whatever happened here is not Mr. Pirretti exclusively targeting underage people to communicate with," he said. "It appears to us that Mr. Pirretti was simply looking for anyone to communicate back with him."
A state grand jury handed up a 10-count indictment on charges including manufacturing of child pornography, debauching the morals of a child and cyber-harrassment, among other charges.
Gelber criticized the Attorney General's Office for publicly announcing the indictment before he had been provided a copy and for omitting the fact that his client is developmentally disabled in a press release.
14 charged in statewide child-porn crackdown
In a statement following the indictment, acting Attorney General Lougy called Pirretti "a dangerous predator who should not be free to roam the Internet or our communities."
"Even after his 2014 arrest for distributing child pornography, Pirretti allegedly stalked young girls online, manipulating a very vulnerable victim into sending him sexually explicit photos of herself," Lougy said.
Gelber said his client, who is out on $125,000 bail and is prohibited from accessing the Internet, does not pose "a physical danger to anyone."
This story has been updated to include comments from Pirretti's attorney.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.