Gristedes Exec Snared In Teen Sex Sting

Undercover cops have nabbed another would-be pedophile who thought he was meeting a minor for a sexual rendezvous. This time the alleged perv is an executive for the Gristedes supermarket chain, 59-year-old Michael Seltzer. Investigators say Seltzer, the chain's treasurer, had been exchanging salacious online messages with the "teen" for about a year and was finally supposed to meet her for the first time on Tuesday for a sexual encounter in Douglaston. But the 14-year-old girl didn't actually exist, and Seltzer, using the irresistible screen name LOVE775419, had been communicating with undercover cops the entire time. He was arrested when he approached an undercover female officer, and police have seized computers at his home and at Gristedes' Manhattan headquarters. Seltzer is being charged with attempted rape and could face up to four years in prison, the Daily News reports. And back in 1999, Seltzer was arrested for attempting to bribe a tax warrant investigator in return for eliminating nearly $200,000 in outstanding City and State taxes owed by the supermarket chain.

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By John Del Signore in News on July 16, 2009 11:11 AM

Comments [rss]

Wza

He likes fresh fruit.

bts220

go get a hooker you sick old pervert leave the kids alone

schizofriendly

Remember to always wash produce before eating.

whitecastlerock

will that be paper or plastic?

Splicer

So they arrest him for attempting to have sex with a fictional character. Next up, Donald Westlake arrested for all the murders committed in his novels.

nicemarmot

Ugh. This stuff makes me sick. Not that the guy isn't a scumbag, but scumbag and pedophile are not the same thing. If it had been a real girl all they could have gotten him on is statutory, no? Cops are really spending time and energy on this crap?

KiljoyWasHere

It never ceases to amaze me that someone spent a year pretending to be a 14 yo girl while writing dirty messages to a stranger. For their job. I chose the wrong career path.

peanuthead

oh, they're just being themselves!! you should see the UCs at demonstrations where they act like they are at a keg party trying to rile the crowd - as though no one would notice that they really are idiot goombas from LI or rockland county! absolutely pathetic!

but, ya know, they gotta, like, you know, *pore* over the evidence and, uh, you know, connect the dots and all that shit. fools!

JacqueMehoff

haha, like they think their white nikes, stoned washed jeans and untucked athletic jersey don't give them away.

the minority undercovers are much harder to spot, that's why they're the one's in most danger and are shot at by their own.

go on a narcotics grand jury and you'll see them all.

Steven

Why did it take a year for him to finally met the "girl"? Why didn't the undercover cop plan a meeting much earlier?

JacqueMehoff

it took a year to snag him?

did he really think a 14yo would want to have sex with a 59yo? because during that year age has to come up.

so it's like...

how old are you? 14

you? 59

too old??

nah, I like mature guys. you're not that old.

schadenfreudian mensch

You forgot the part where she ask if he was filthy rich or just filthy.

Bottomless Chips

Not that this guy isn't a "scumbag," but these stings (and Dateline's) now seem ineffective, expensive, and unfair.

BotanistPrime

Yeah really! How much of the taxpayer's money does it cost to pay somebody full time to sit around and chat online with pervs?

Jen S

I'm with you. Attempted rape??

Spirit of 76

That's probably attempted statutory rape. Doesn't matter if a 14-year-old girl actually agrees to do it with you. She's still below the age of consent and it's still statutory rape.

I don't understand the attraction to such young girls. I don't even find 21-year-olds especially attractive nowadays.

jaycjay

"That's probably attempted statutory rape."

Colloquially, yes. There's no distinction, though, in New York State law between "rape" and "statutory rape". In general, a person under 17 is considered incapable of consent so the charge would simply be some degree of rape.

Regarding this particular case, if a person over 18 has sex with a person under 15 the applicable charge is rape in the second degree. So that's likely what he's charged with "attempting." He was also charged with attempted dissemination of indecent materials to a minor and attempted endangering the welfare of a minor.