South Jersey teacher arrested for allegedly trying to lure teen

Jonathan Liano, of Sicklerville, believed he was communicating with a 14 year-old girl, authorities said.

Published Sep. 15, 2018, 2:24 p.m. ET

A fifth-grade teacher from Sicklerville was arrested Friday after repeatedly sending sexually explicit online messages to an undercover detective he believed to be a teenage girl, authorities said.

Jonathan Liano, 38, a teacher at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Berlin Township, was charged with attempted sexual assault of a minor, sending obscene material to a minor, and other offenses as part of an undercover investigation that began more than a week ago, according to a release posted on the Camden County prosecutor's website.

Liano believed he was chatting with a 14-year-old girl when he initiated a conversation with the detective on Sept. 4 and later agreed to meet in Pennsauken, authorities said. Liano was arrested when he arrived at the location just before 4:30 p.m. Friday.

He is being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility pending a pretrial detention hearing. The investigation, led by the High-Tech Crimes Unit of the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and the Department of Homeland Security's Cherry Hill division, is ongoing.