Borough councilman resigns

Tom Bodall charged with five counts of attempted endangering the welfare of a minor

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   JAMESBURG — Borough Councilman Thomas Bodall was charged Sept. 4 with having a sexually explicit dialogue with someone he believed to be a minor, and sending pictures of his exposed penis via the Internet to the person, according to the Bergen County prosecutor’s office.
   Mr. Bodall, 23, resigned from his council seat after being released by police Sept. 5.
   He has been charged with of five counts of attempted endangering the welfare of a minor, and two counts of distributing obscene material to a minor.
   The Bergen County prosecutor’s office Computer Crimes Unit said in a press release that it had been investigating Mr. Bodall since the spring when he initiated a conversation through chat and instant messaging under the screen name capemayfantasy with an investigator who had created an undercover online identity, claiming to be a 14-year-old girl.
   Mr. Bodall was arrested without incident, the press release states, and investigators executed a search warrant of his borough home.
   Brian Sinclair, assistant prosecutor for the Computer Crimes Unit, said these types of operations are fairly routine for his organization and that the alleged incidents with Mr. Bodall occurred in a Yahoo chat room.
   ”We know that there are bad things going on, on the Internet but we don’t always know where,” Mr. Sinclair said. “We create an undercover identity and wait to see. We’ll let them initiate the conversation.”
   All of the charges are third-degree crimes, each carrying a sentence of between three and five years. If found guilty, Mr. Bodall also will have to register as a sex offender, Mr. Sinclair said.
   Mr. Bodall, who is a research and curatorial assistant for the County of Middlesex Cultural and Heritage Commission, and the borough historian, has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case.
   Mr. Bodall was released from the Bergen County Jail after posting the $15,000 bail, has been placed on Internet restrictions and is awaiting his arraignment scheduled for Tuesday at the Bogota Municipal Court.
   Advised by his attorney, Mr. Bodall declined to comment on the case.
   Cases like this should be a wake-up call for parents, Mr. Sinclair said.
   ”For parents whose children are online, they need to know what their children are doing,” he said.
   Prosecutors are asking that anyone whose child spoke online with screen name “capemayfantasy” to contact the Bergen County prosecutor’s office Computer Crimes Unit at 201-646-2300.