NEW CITY – A 32-year-old Orangeburg man was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on felony charges after an investigation by the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office “Special Victims Unit”.
Thomas Szeliga faces up to four years in prison on the charge of attempted criminal sexual act and four years in prison on the charge of attempted disseminating indecent material to minors, both of which are felonies.
Rockland County DA Tom Walsh said that between June 3rd, 2022, and June 27th, 2022, Szeliga exchanged numerous text messages, photographs, and phone calls, sexually explicit in nature, with a female child who he met online and whom he believed to be 13-years-old.
The teen was actually an undercover officer posing as a teen. Szeliga planned to meet with the 13-year-old child to engage in sexual conduct with her at a bowling alley in Rockland County. This undercover investigation was conducted by Rockland County District Attorney’s Office and was assisted by the Clarkstown Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI Safe Streets Unit, Orangetown Police Department, and the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office.
Walsh said, “The goal of these undercover investigations is to identify persons who engage in sexually explicit communication with children on the internet, arrange to engage in a sex act with the child, and then travel to meet a child for the purpose of having sexual relations,” adding “My office will continue holding undercover investigations and I caution anyone thinking they may be talking to a minor; it could be an Investigator from the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office. “
