Brooklyn man arrested after allegedly trying to coerce 12-year-old girl into sex

A Brooklyn man who had allegedly tried to coerce a 12-year-old girl into having sex with him has been arrested.

Shmuel Zarzar, 30, allegedly exchanged text messages with a 12-year-old girl over the course of several weeks in December, 2017 after meeting in person in Brooklyn. After the victim refused to set a time and date to meet at Zarzar’s insistence, Zarzar allegedly went to an area near the victim’s school in order to see her.

Police were notified about the situation, and an undercover officer assumed the victim’s identity to communicate with Zarzar throughout January, 2018. During this communication, Zarzar allegedly asking for explicit photos of the victim, described explicit activity and stood near the victim’s school for several hours.

He was apprehended by police after arranging to meet with the victim in Manhattan on February 1.

“As alleged, Shmuel Zarzar attempted, through a month-long correspondence, to induce a 12-year-old to have sex with him. He was arrested yesterday when the meeting he allegedly thought he was having with the child victim turned out to be a meeting with the FBI,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in a February 2 statement.

“The alleged behavior of the subject is nothing short of outrageous, and we simply won’t tolerate this in our community,” added FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney Jr. “The FBI New York Crimes Against Children Task Force fights each day to protect the most vulnerable among us, and we will aggressively pursue predators who target our children.”