Pittman

Pittman

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<p>This stab-proof vest, two firearms and were credentials found in Earnest Pittman’s car at the time of his arrest on Wednesday on allegations of sending explicit text messages to a detective posing as a juvenile.</p>
                                 <p>Photo courtesy of Kingston Municipal Police Department</p>

This stab-proof vest, two firearms and were credentials found in Earnest Pittman’s car at the time of his arrest on Wednesday on allegations of sending explicit text messages to a detective posing as a juvenile.

Photo courtesy of Kingston Municipal Police Department

KINGSTON — A federal corrections officer was arrested on Wednesday after he allegedly sent explicit text messages to a detective posing as a juvenile.

Earnest Pittman Jr., 45, of Cresco in Monroe County was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Joseph Spagnuolo, Jr. on felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor after police say he sent multiple sexually charged text messages and emails to someone who he thought was a 15-year-old girl.

According to the criminal complaint:

Pittman contacted the detective via social media on Aug. 4, saying that “I know I’m older but I always date younger.” He was advised that the girl he thought he was speaking with was only 15, to which he said “You know I’m 45” and “I have a 4-year-old son so women my age don’t like that.”

Pittman asked for the girl’s email address so he could email her from his work computer. 182 emails were exchanged between Pittman and the detective while Pittman was at work, most of them explicit in nature. He asked for nude photos, and told the girl that he had “a great career and make really really great money from the government, you would never want for anything.”

On Aug. 6, Pittman told the detective that he was researching the Kingston area in order to find a motel so they could meet up, but was also afraid because he read on the Internet that police had been catching people meeting up with 15-year-olds.

The conversation continued through to Wednesday, with Pittman sending a picture of the 309 Kingston/Forty-Fort exit ramp and another of a well-known Kingston business.

Police searched the area and eventually located Pittman driving on Wyoming Avenue. They stopped him and took him into custody, finding two loaded firearms, a stab-proof vest with the Department of Justice Federal Prisons Bureau seal on it and credentials identifying Pittman as a federal corrections officer.

Pittman was read his rights and admitted to officers that he had sent explicit texts and emails to someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl while working at the Federal Correctional Institute in Otisville, New York.

He was denied bail by Judge Spagnuolo and transported to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 26.