Victim in Online Sexual-Assault Case Is Accused of Slaying N.J. Boy

A teenager accused of sexually assaulting and strangling an 11-year-old boy selling candy for his school was himself the alleged victim of sexual assault by a man he met online, officials said Thursday.

A 43-year-old New York man met the 15-year-old suspect through an America Online chat room and arranged trysts, authorities said.

Stephen Phillip Simmons, of Holbrook, N.Y., met the youth, then 14, four times last year at a mall in Freehold Township and took him to motels to have sex, Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said.

The teen also went to the man’s Long Island home several times, and their contacts continued until August, when the boy’s father, suspicious of his son’s frequent phone calls to Long Island and periodic absences from home, confronted Simmons, Kaye said.

The parents sent the boy to a counselor, who went to authorities.

Authorities moved to arrest Simmons on sexual-assault charges, Kaye said. He was to be arraigned in Freehold early next week.

The boy is accused of killing Eddie Werner, 11, who disappeared Saturday while going door to door selling candy and wrapping paper for a school fund-raiser. His body was discovered Monday in a wooded area.

The name of the 15-year-old suspect was not revealed by authorities because he is a juvenile.

He was charged as a juvenile Wednesday with murder and aggravated sexual assault. Additional charges of robbery and felony murder were filed Thursday.