Daniel Figueroa

**Daniel Figueroa** is a suspected predator confronted in the Ocean County, New Jersey edition of **To Catch a Predator.**

## Biography

23-year-old Daniel Figueroa initiated a communication on the internet with a Perverted Justice decoy who was pretending to be a girl who is fourteen. He asked whether she was virgin, expressed a desire for anal, oral, and vaginal sex, and assured her that he would not cause her to become pregnant. Daniel claimed he didn't want his desire to rape a child to be known to anyone. He describes himself as a "ghetto boy" and claims to have spent time with "hoodlums" and "gangstas." He acknowledges to the decoy that he and all of his friends had spent time in jail.

Daniel traveled by car to the sting operation in Ocean County, New Jersey, from Brooklyn, New York. He approaches the house on foot, takes a look around, then gets back in his car and leaves. He makes two more trips back to the residence. He is invited in by the decoy. He even starts looking through mailboxes to get a better look at the residence. nevertheless, following his third departure. The police arrest him and take him into custody.

## Behind the scenes

Daniel entered a negotiated guilty plea to attempted third degree endangering the welfare of a child in exchange for the dismissal of a count of second degree attempted sexual assault and second degree luring. He was sentenced to lifetime parole and lifetime registration as a sex offender. The trial judge accepted the factual basis and recommendation, but she urged David to appeal at sentencing because she believed that there could be a legal dispute over whether or not David abandoned any attempts to commit the crime, and that there would be "a significant question on appeal as to whether or not David took enough affirmative action to commit an attempt."

David appealed and argued:  "The factual basis provided by defendant did not support a conviction for attempted endangering the welfare of a child" and "the application of parole supervision for life to this defendant constitutes cruel and unusual punishment." He concedes that in the trial court, he did not move to change his plea or take any other effort to forward the current issues. He also expressed his affirmative approval of the decision. The court was therefore unable to determine whether David would realize that if he prevailed, he would once again be facing two counts that carried a presumption of incarceration or whether the current arguments would be relevant to the desired relief.

As for the plea, it should be noted that the court considered David's communications on the internet and his drive from Brooklyn to the residence of someone he believed to be a female between the ages of thirteen and sixteen to be a "substantial step" towards committing the crime of endangering a minor. Whatever the situation may be, David in this instance questions the legitimacy of the very disposition he negotiated and declares that "[t]he sentence of parole supervision for life must therefore be vacated" without offering a solution. Furthermore, there is no indication in this record that David wishes to change his plea and go on trial for offenses of the second degree. In light of these facts, the court remanded for additional hearings so that the parties might discuss the pertinent issue of disposal.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-superior-court-appellate-division/1541529.html
2. ↑ http://www.perverted-justice.com/?con=njdavenj1
3. ↑ https://dairystatedegenerates.blogspot.com/2021/04/to-catch-predator-update-ocean-county.html