FLEMINGTON — A 34-year-old man admitted in court on Wednesday to using an online gaming network to get young girls to send him explicit pictures.

Thomas A. Pirretti, who had been arrested as part of a child porn sting two years ago, pleaded guilty to second-degree charges of manufacturing and distributing child pornography among other charges for later incidents with young girls, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said.

One of the girls Pirretti contacted was a 16-year-old California girl with autism. Porrino  said Pirretti first contacted the girl in October 2014 on the Nintendo Network, and from there began talking to her over the phone. During these phone conversations he asked the girl to send him explicit pictures of not only her, but also her and her younger female cousin having sex.

Pirretti threatened to tell the girl's boyfriend about what they were doing if she didn't send pictures, according to Porrino, and as a result the girl sent him at least 10 pictures of herself. Authorities were alerted to the relationship when the girl's mother learned about what was happening and contacted law enforcement in New Jersey.

In addition to the California girl, Pirretti also admitted to making contact with an 11-year-old girl in Colorado on the Nintendo Network in November 2014, and talked to that girl over the phone. Unlike the previous incident, the girl in Colorado refused to send him the pictures he asked for.

The girl's father contacted local police when he learned about what was happening. Cops then entered the information from the case into a database with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to Porrino.

In the original charges, Pirretti was found to have more than 1,000 child porn items in his possession between October 2013 and June 2014. He was also found to have distributed more than 700 images through email, talked with another defendant in the sting operation where they talked about their "desire for prepubescent girls," and "asked if he could pay for sexual activity with the other defendant's 10-year-old daughter," Porrino said.

Porrino called Pirretti "yet another case in point illustrating that those who share child pornography online often move on to hands-on conduct against children."

"Even after being arrested for child pornography, Pirretti was out on the internet, stalking young girls and deceiving a very vulnerable victim into sending him sexually explicit photos of herself."

As part of the plea agreement, a five-year prison sentence will be recommended for Pirretti. He will also have to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law and will be subject to lifetime parole supervision.

"This guilty plea will remove him from our communities to a place where he can no longer harm children," Porrino said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 2.

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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com

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