A New Jersey man has been arrested for attempting to lure a person he believed to be an underage girl, officials said Friday.
Michael Marchionese, 51, of Pine Hill, allegedly chatted with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl over several weeks beginning in October 2025, according to Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay and Pine Hill Police Chief Christopher Winters.
Marchionese began communicating with the purported underage girl on social media, but the conversation later moved to text messaging, officials said.
In his chats, Marchionese allegedly made “multiple requests for nude photographs” of the girl and ultimately arranged to meet her at a hotel in Cherry Hill, where he intended to sexually assault her, prosecutors said.
Marchionese was arrested at his Pine Hill home on Nov. 21 and booked into the Camden County Correctional Facility.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force later determined that a cellphone recovered from his home was the device he used to communicate with the purported victim.
Marchionese has been charged with four counts of attempted manufacturing of child sexual abuse material, attempting to lure a child, attempted sexual assault of a minor and attempted endangering the welfare of a child, officials said.
He’s expected back in court Jan. 14, according to online court records.
