Commercial Township Man Charged In Ongoing Child Enticement Investigation

Monday, December 30, 2024, 6:30 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

COMMERCIAL TOWNSHIP, NJ.- Last Monday, during an ongoing and continuing investigation into child enticement and pornography investigation, a 29-year-old Commercial Township, New Jersey, man and accused child predator was additionally charged with multiple counts of online child sex crimes.

     According to Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, on Thursday, December 19, 2024, Detective Kyle Mecouch was contacted by a mother from Galeton, Pennsylvania. The mother told Detective Mecouch that her fifteen-year-old daughter had been in an online relationship with a man whom the woman believed was a teenage boy.

     The mother explained that on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, her daughter, who was upset, came to her and told her that the teenager was actually a 29-year-old man named Michael Romig and that she had not been able to contact him since December 12, 2024. After learning about Romig, the mother searched his name online and found the press release from the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office detailing Romig’s December 13, 2024 arrest.

Ongoing Investigation Uncovers Additional Crimes

     During an ensuing investigation, Detective Mecouch uncovered that Romig allegedly added the 15-year-old girl as a friend on the social media application Snapchat in December 2022. Initially, Romig gave the girl a fake name of “Jason” and told the girl he was seventeen years old. The girl and Romig began communicating daily on Snapchat and other social media platforms. During that time, Romig would send the girl nude pictures of himself and requested that the girl send him sexually explicit digital images and video files of herself, as well.

     Sometime during the next two years, Romig eventually told the girl his actual age and name and convinced her not to tell her parents about him. The two continued to communicate daily until Romig’s arrest.

     After she could not contact Romig, the girl became worried and approached her parents about Romig’s real identity.

     Following Detective Mecouch’s investigation, Romig was formally charged on a warrant complaint and served with the charges at the Cumberland County Jail.

     On Monday, December 23, 2024, Romig was formally charged with third-degree Engaging in Sexual Conduct which would Impair or Debauch the Morals of a Child; first-degree Enticing or Coercing a Child to Engage in Prohibited Sexual Acts to produce Sexually Explicit Digital Images or Video Files; and second-degree Luring or Enticing a Child by Various Means.

Initial Investigation And Arrest

     Following the initial investigation, Romig was arrested and charged earlier in December 2024 after members of the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Rask Force initiated an investigation after they were contacted in October 2024 by Detectives of the Columbus, Ohio Police Department that an individual located in Commercial Township, New Jersey, was talking with young girls on multiple accounts on Snapchat, including girls as young as 10 years old.

     During that investigation, Romig was identified as the individual and was taken into custody on December 13, 2024, and jailed following being charged with multiple child sex crimes. Romig remains detained, and the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office will file a pretrial detention motion to have Romig detained for the new charges as well.

     Anyone who believes that they may have information relevant to this investigation or any matter involving the exploitation of a child is asked to contact ICAC Detective K. Mecouch of the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office at (856) 332-4379. Anyone wishing to share information anonymously may contact CCPO.TIPS online via smartphone, tablet, or computer.