relationship with a 12-year-old girl. Woodland Park Police Officer Steven Vigorito Jr., 39, has been charged with attempted aggravated sexual assault as well as luring and enticing a child—he met the alleged victim while assisting her family in an unrelated police matter. "What is so disturbing about this, is the person who was to assist the family, ends up preying on the family," said Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes.
Vigorito, a married father of two, is a 12-year-veteran of
the Woodland Park police department (which only has 25 officers). The girl’s
mother complained to the police department Monday that the officer had made
inappropriate comments to her daughter, had given her his private cell phone
number and had asked her to text him when he visited their home on the other
matter (it's not clear what that other matter was).
Woodland Park Police Chief Anthony Galietti said they
immediately contacted the prosecutor’s office, whose detectives posed as the
girl and started exchanging texts with Vigorito. “Officer Vigorito’s texts
became increasingly sexually explicit. Eventually, the officer attempted to
have the child meet with him for a sexual purpose,” Valdes said. “The
texts—from what I was able to see—were fast and furious and more explicit as
they went.” She said he texted the girl photographs in which he exposed himself
while wearing his police uniform, and arranged to meet her for a sexual
encounter.
Vigorito faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Galietti, a father of five, was very disturbed by the accusations: “Something
that’s alleged like this is very upsetting and I can assure you that’s not the
way my department is run,” Galietti said.