The main issue in this criminal appeal is whether the Luring, Enticing Child by Various Means statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:13-6(a), requires the State to prove a defendant lured or enticed a "child," in this case an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a fourteen-year-old girl, into traveling or accompanying the defendant to some location other than the victim's own home.
The court rejects defendant's contention that because he enticed the "child" to meet him alone, and defendant traveled to the "child's" home, a judgment of acquittal should have been entered. By its plain language, the statute forbids an adult from "luring or enticing a child to meet or appear at any other place." The child's home can be the "other place." Here, that location is a place "other" than where the defendant was when he communicated with the child.
There is no reason to construe the expansive language of "any other place" as somehow containing an unwritten exception for places where the child is already located. When the prohibited meeting was arranged, the course of action into which the child was lured was staying alone, isolated, and vulnerable.
Applying these principles, the court affirms the conviction and sentence for second-degree luring, N.J.S.A. 2C:13-6 (a); second-degree attempted sexual assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:5-1(a)(3) and 2C:14-2(c)(4); third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child, N.J.S.A. 2C-24-4(a)(1); 2C:5-1(a)(1) and (a)(3); and third-degree attempted promoting obscene material to a minor, N.J.S.A. 2C:34-3(b)(1), 2C:5-1(a)(1) and (a)(3).
The unpublished portion of this opinion rejects unrelated arguments raised by defendant alleging evidentiary errors.