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30-year-old registered sex offender allegedly met teenager on social networking site

Less than a week after a Union County Grand Jury indicted him on charges relating to an improper relationship with a teenager, a 30-year-old pled guilty in the case, announced Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow.

Jesse Goodman of Annandale, Hunderdon County, was arrested in March 2009 following an investigation by The Union County Prosecutor's Office and the Summit Police Department, said Assistant Prosecutor David Hummel, who handled the case.

At the time, a court ordered search warrant was executed at his residence and police seized a number of items, including a number of computers.

Soon after the relationship turned physical, with Goodman traveling to Union County on multiple occasions to engage in sex acts with the victim. He also drove the victim to his home in Hunterdon County and to his father's business in Sterling, N.J. where the two engaged in additional sex acts, said Hummel.

Police were notified after the victim told a parent about the relationship, said Hummel. An investigation was immediately launched.

Early Tuesday, Goodman pleaded guilty to one count of 2nd degree sexual assault and one count of 4th degree criminal sexual contact. He faces up to eight years in jail.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 4 before Union County Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim.

In October 2004 Goodman was convicted in Middlesex County on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child and under Megan's Law was required to register as a sex offender.

Goodman is currently being held at the Hunterdon County Jail.

— GARRETT MORRISON, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM