Lawsuit: Marlboro didn’t stop camp counselor who sexted 11-year-olds

A onetime camp counselor for the Marlboro Recreation Department will learn the form his penalty will take for soliciting lewd images from young girls.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit alleges township officials allowed the counselor to remain in his job, even after learning he'd sent lewd images and texts to the girls, the Asbury Park Press reports.

Matthew Kleinstein, 20, pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree count of cyber harassment on Aug. 17. According to acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni he applied for admission into a pretrial intervention program.

If he qualifies, it would open the possibility of rehabilitation services. A standard sentence would run as high as one and a half years in prison. Completion of the program offers entrants a chance to circumvent criminal charges on their records.

Investigators accused Kleinstein of "knowingly sending, posting, commenting, requesting, suggesting or proposing any lewd, indecent or obscene material to a person."

The incident is believed to have taken place around June 28, 2014, while he was employed by the township.

Officials have not disclosed more about his offense, but the Press reports the lawsuit — targeting Kleinstein, Marlboro Township, various employees of the township’s recreation department and Kleinstein’s father, Darrin Kleinstein, who was vice chairman of the township’s recreation committee — said that while he was supervising 11- and 12-year-olds he sent explicit messages to campers including the plainftiff.

Some of the messages included sexually explicit photos presumed to be of Kleinstein’s genital area, according to the description of the lawsuit by the Press.

The township's business administrator declined comment beyond saying Kleinstein is no longer a counselor, according to the report.