Toms River Perv Sentenced in Child Luring Case

By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times

With help from the testimony of his young victims, their mother, a neighbor, and a librarian, Deborah Hanlon-Schron, chief trial attorney in the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, was able to convict Brian Warner of Toms River of attempting to lure three children into his van back in 2004 and possessing bomb-making materials along with a stun gun at his mother's Center Street home in Little Egg Harbor, where Warner was living at the time of the crimes.

The witnesses testified about the disturbing events of that fateful day in 2004 when the girls were 10 and 9 and the boy was 7. They said that Warner stalked the Tuckerton family outside their home and at a local coin laundry, where he would give the children cheap toys and candy.

Testimony indicated that not only did Warner lurk outside their home in his van for several hours each day, but at one point the pervy stalker actually appeared at the bottom of the family's staircase asking the children to come down and play with him. They instead ran inside and told their mother.

Warner attempted to lure little children into his soundproof padded van that was well-stocked with a candy-filled cooler, toys and condoms. Black Louvers covered his van windows; motion sensors alerted him if someone was approaching the vehicle and he kept track of law enforcement activity with his police scanner.

Additional testimony by a librarian at the Little Egg Harbor branch of the Ocean County Library indicated that Warner had come in during that same time he attempted to lure the children into his van seeking help with researching kidnapping laws on the Internet.

Before sentencing, Warner's defense attorney Paul Casteleiro told state Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels that he was about to sentence an innocent person. Casteleiro admitted that while his client's behavior was peculiar, it was not criminal.

"Mr. Warner did not commit these offenses," insisted Casteleiro. "He did not lure anyone into a van...Brian didn't do anything other than be an inappropriate person."

Judge Daniels disagreed calling Warner's behavior "troubling" and sentenced Warner to a total of 12 years in prison and lifetime parole supervision under Megan's Law.

Warner, clad in jail attire, maintained his innocence as he addressed the judge with,"I've been accused, and a jury has found me guilty of allegations which I said from the beginning were false.I intended no harm to anyone, especially to children. People being in danger, exploding crickets — these are things I wouldn't waste my time with," said Warner referring to a type of homemade bomb that Warner had all the ingredients for in his padlocked bedroom at his mother's home when he was arrested.

The ingredients included carbon dioxide cartridges, BBs, hobby fuse and smokeless gunpowder. Also in the locked bedroom were a stun gun and loaded crossbow with an optical scope.

This was the second time Warner stood trial for the charges. The first occurred in 2005, but ended in a mistrial after the jury was deadlocked.




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