Court Records: Undercover Riverhead police officer, working alongside FBI, catches alleged predator who admitted to sex with teen

A Riverhead police officer, working undercover with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, helped catch a Huntington man who admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in town, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court Wednesday.

Jenrri Steven Giron Ramos became the target of a federal sting after a 13-year-old Riverhead girl reported to law enforcement an encounter she allegedly had with him on the social media platform Snapchat. A Riverhead police officer then posed as a teenage girl from Riverhead and contacted Mr. Giron Ramos on the same platform, court records show.

After a series of sexually explicit exchanges, Mr. Giron Ramos agreed to drive to Riverhead to meet the “teen,” who identified herself to him as a 13-year-old girl. Despite this revelation and Mr. Giron Ramos responding to the teen that he was almost 20, investigators say he continued to engage in multiple chats with the girl, even sending her nude photos, according to the complaint. The undercover officer also sent a selfie-style photo of a female cop that was processed with an “age-regression filter” to Mr. Giron Ramos.

The Huntington man was arrested shortly after 9:30 p.m. on May 18 when he arrived to meet the “teen” on Roanoke Avenue in Riverhead and was met by members of the FBI Task Force. He was taken into custody and processed at Riverhead Town police Headquarters.

Mr. Giron Ramos told investigators he was there to meet a teen who he believed to be in ninth grade, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent who was on scene at the time of the arrest. Mr. Giron Ramos also admitted to investigators that he had previously visited Riverhead to have sex with another young girl in the backseat of his BMW. Federal officials say that girl was the same 13-year-old who had reported an encounter with Mr. Giron Ramos in March.

A federal grand jury indicted Mr. Giron Ramos on Wednesday with a charge of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, according to a copy of the indictment. While no additional charges have been filed in relation to the investigation at this time, the criminal complaint notes Mr. Giron Ramos was arrested on a weapons charge April 2 by Suffolk County police.