Ex-State Trooper Sentenced For Attempting To Engage In Sex With A Purported Teenage Girl

Monday, December 15, 2025, 7:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News, 

FREEHOLD, NJ.- A 33-year-old Brick Township, New Jersey, man and former New Jersey State Trooper will be spending the next seven years in New Jersey State Prison after being sentenced last Wednesday for attempting to engage in illicit sexual activity with who believed to be a 14-year-old girl, but was actually an undercover investigator.

     According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago, on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, Shane H. Dempsey, 33, of Brick Township, appeared in Monmouth County Superior Court and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Henry P. Butehorn to seven years in State Prison, after pleading guilty in early August to second-degree Attempted Sexual Assault; and third-degree Official Misconduct.

     In handing down the sentence, Judge Butehorn additionally ordered Dempsey, upon release from prison, to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and be subject to parole supervision for life. Dempsey was also ordered to forfeit his public position with the New Jersey State Police and was barred from future public employment.

Sentence Stems From A Online Child Sex Crimes Investigation

     The guilty plea and sentence stem from an investigation that began last year, when a Detective with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, who was monitoring the social media application Whisper and posing as a teenage girl, came into contact with Dempsey. While engaging in online conversations, Dempsey attempted to solicit sexually explicit images and expressed a desire to pay money in exchange for a sex act from the purported 14-year-old girl, and arranged to meet the child.

     When Dempsey arrived at the prearranged meeting location in his New Jersey State Police issued vehicle, he was taken into custody and charged.

     On Monday, August 4, 2025, Dempsey appeared in Monmouth County Superior Court and pleaded guilty to the above-referenced charges for which he was sentenced.