Brooklyn sex offender lured teen on messaging app, molested him: prosecutors
A Brooklyn sex offender used an encrypted instant messaging app to lure a teenage Rockland County boy and molest him, prosecutors said Thursday.
Joseph Grunwald, 31, began communicating with the 14-year-old boy via Telegram in April, according to court documents.
Telegram ensures anonymity and does not share IP addresses, phone numbers and other personal information like regular messaging services do.
After texting for weeks, Grunwald’s chats became sexually charged and he enticed the boy to send him a picture of his penis, which the registered sex offender sent to another person, prosecutors said.
“I do it with teenagers every day,” the Williamsburg man allegedly said to the teen via text. “[W]ow, I like young boys.”
Grunwald repeatedly drove to Rockland County, where the victim lived with his family and worshiped.
He would buy gifts for the boy, including a cell phone and prepaid calling cards, on Amazon and request cash reimbursement, but if the teen didn’t quickly pay him back, Grunwald would threaten him, prosecutors said.
In one message translated from Yiddish, Grunwald told the boy he would come to his mother’s house if he didn’t pay him the cash he believed the teen owed him, they added.
“I am going to wait for a few days till you pay,” Grunwald allegedly said. “If not I am warning you with your life.”
On top of the physical threats, Grunwald told the boy he’d reveal pictures and videos he’d sent the man to the victim’s friends, family and the public.
“I am going to call your mother,” Grunwald allegedly wrote. “I have her cell phone number. Good luck. I’m going to tell her everything.”
In June or July, Grunwald picked up the boy near his synagogue in Spring Valley and drove him to a dead-end road near Lake Suzanne in Monsey, where he gave him a cell phone and a gift card to load minutes onto it, according to court documents.
As the boy opened the items, prosecutors say Grunwald put his hand on the boy’s lap and touched his penis and testicles for several minutes.
After that, Grunwald obsessively called and texted the boy from multiple numbers and blocked numbers — sometimes up at 12 times in one night — prosecutors said.
In late December, Grunwald texted the boy claiming he was in his yeshiva. On Dec. 30, he posted the boy’s phone number to a public Telegram group associated with his school.
On Jan. 3, a search warrant was executed at Grunwald’s Williamsburg apartment, where evidence of the sex abuse was recovered, prosecutors said.
In November 2018, Grunwald was convicted of sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, records show.
