A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl he reportedly met through two popular online platforms, raising renewed concerns about online grooming and the ways offenders can use social media and gaming apps to target children.
According to 6abc Action News, 35-year-old Alex Torres-Lopez of Bridgeton pleaded guilty on September 10, 2026, to one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is recommending a sentence of 20 years in state prison without eligibility for parole under New Jersey’s Jessica Lunsford Act. According to the report, Torres-Lopez would also be subject to lifetime parole supervision and required to register as a sex offender. His sentencing is scheduled for January 8, 2027.
The original January 2026 release from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office stated that Torres-Lopez was identified during an investigation by the office’s Special Victims Unit and the Trenton Police Department. Investigators determined that Torres-Lopez met the 12-year-old through Snapchat and Roblox before meeting her multiple times in Trenton during the fall of 2025. Prosecutors also said he had the child send him pornographic images and videos of herself.
The guilty plea resolves the first-degree aggravated sexual assault charge. It does not, by itself, establish that Snapchat, Roblox, or any other online platform bears civil responsibility for what happened. However, cases involving online grooming may raise important questions about whether someone other than the individual offender could share responsibility.
What Is Online Grooming?
Online grooming is a process in which an offender uses the internet to gain a child’s trust, establish an emotional connection, and gradually introduce inappropriate or abusive behavior.
It does not always begin with an obviously threatening or explicit message. Online grooming may start with an ordinary conversation on a social media platform, gaming service, chat feature, or messaging app.
An offender may pretend to share a child’s interests, offer compliments, send virtual gifts, or present themselves as a trusted friend. Over time, the conversations can become more personal. The offender may attempt to isolate the child, move the conversation to a private messaging service, request images, or arrange an in-person meeting.
As discussed in our article, “How Do Most Online Sex Crimes Happen?”, offenders often rely on trust, secrecy, shame, and manipulation. Features such as private chats, disappearing messages, anonymous accounts, friend recommendations, and communication between strangers may also make it more difficult for parents and guardians to recognize what is happening.
A child is never responsible for being manipulated or exploited by an adult.
How Do Offenders Use Apps for Online Grooming?
Children routinely use social media, gaming platforms, and messaging apps to communicate with friends. Offenders may attempt to exploit those same platforms to reach children.
Online grooming may involve an offender who:
- Pretends to be the same age as the child
- Claims to share the child’s interests
- Sends compliments, gifts, or in-game currency
- Tries to become a trusted friend or romantic interest
- Asks the child to keep the relationship secret
- Moves conversations to a private or encrypted app
- Requests personal information, images, or videos
- Uses threats, shame, or blackmail to maintain control
- Attempts to arrange an in-person meeting
These tactics are designed to manipulate the child and make it harder for them to recognize the danger or tell a trusted adult what is happening.
Can an Online Platform Be Held Liable?
Possibly, but platform-liability cases are legally complex and depend heavily on the specific facts.
Federal law, including Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, generally provides online services with significant protection from claims that seek to treat them as the publisher or speaker of content created by their users. However, that protection does not necessarily resolve every claim involving an online platform.
Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, attorneys may investigate whether a potential claim is based on the platform’s own conduct, decisions, or product design rather than solely on content posted by an offender.
Potential issues may include whether the company:
- Designed features that allowed unknown adults to locate or privately communicate with children
- Failed to use reasonable age-verification or age-assurance measures
- Recommended or connected an adult account with a child’s account
- Received prior reports involving the same user but failed to take appropriate action
- Failed to enforce its own child-safety policies
- Continued permitting access after being warned about grooming or exploitation
- Designed disappearing-message or privacy features in a way that concealed dangerous conduct
- Failed to preserve relevant account information after receiving notice of suspected wrongdoing
The presence of one of these factors does not automatically make an online platform liable for abuse connected to online grooming.
An attorney must determine what the platform knew, what safety measures were available, whether applicable law required additional action, and whether an alleged failure contributed to the child’s harm.
Platform terms of service, internal safety policies, prior complaints, moderation records, account reports, algorithmic recommendations, and communications between users may all become important evidence.
Preserving Digital Evidence of Online Grooming
Digital evidence can disappear quickly. Messages may be deleted, accounts may be disabled, and content sent through certain apps may be designed to vanish.
When possible, survivors and their families should preserve:
- Usernames, display names, and account URLs
- Screenshots of messages and profiles
- Dates and approximate times of communications
- Email notifications and login alerts
- Friend requests and contact recommendations
- Images, videos, or requests for content
- Reports submitted to the platform
- Responses from moderators or customer-support representatives
- Phone, tablet, computer, and gaming-device data
- Police reports and communications with investigators
Parents should avoid impersonating their child or continuing a conversation with a suspected offender without guidance from law enforcement. They should also avoid deleting accounts, resetting devices, or altering messages before speaking with investigators or an attorney.
An experienced attorney may be able to send preservation notices requesting that a platform retain account data, reports, communications, and other information relevant to a potential civil case.
How Laffey Bucci D’Andrea Reich & Ryan Can Help
At Laffey Bucci D’Andrea Reich & Ryan, our Crime Victim Department represents survivors of child sexual abuse, online grooming, exploitation, assault, and human trafficking nationwide.
Our trauma-informed team includes former sex-crimes prosecutors who understand both the criminal and civil sides of these cases. Our attorneys have more than 140 years of combined experience, and the firm has secured more than $850 million in compensation for clients.
In a case involving online grooming, our attorneys can investigate:
- How the offender contacted the child
- Which apps, websites, or gaming platforms were involved
- Whether the platform received previous complaints or safety reports
- Whether account recommendations or product features facilitated the contact
- Whether another organization knew about previous misconduct
- What digital evidence may still be available
- Which individuals, companies, or organizations may bear civil responsibility
We understand that coming forward can be difficult. Survivors and their families are treated with dignity, compassion, and respect throughout the legal process.
If your child was targeted through online grooming, exploited, or sexually abused by someone they met online, contact Laffey Bucci D’Andrea Reich & Ryan for a free and confidential consultation. We can listen to what happened, explain your legal options, and investigate whether the offender, an online platform, or another responsible party may be held accountable.