Ex-Jersey City man, N.Y. woman accused in sex attacks on child

Former Jersey City resident Dean Sacco and a New York woman face numerous federal charges concerning the prostitution of a girl and production of child pornography.

The FBI arrested Sacco, 49, and Linda O'Connor, 46, both of Norwich, N.Y., on Feb. 10. They appeared in court in Binghamton last week and pleaded not guilty.

O'Connor is accused of forcing the girl to have sex with Sacco, her landlord, because O'Connor was behind on her rent payments, according to a report in the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton, N.Y.

As he was being loaded into a police van after Friday's court appearance, Sacco shouted to reporters that the girl was lying.

"The lady's not guilty, and I'm not guilty, and the girl's taking everybody on one heck of an incredible ride," Sacco yelled to television cameras from Binghamton's WBNG. "So she's lying? Yes, for what reasons I don't know."

Sacco is accused of buying a child for sex, sex trafficking of a child, producing child pornography, driving over state lines to have sex with a minor and possessing child pornography. O'Connor is accused of selling a child for sex, sex trafficking, two counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

If convicted on all counts, the pair face up to life in prison.

An investigation was launched into Sacco and O'Connor when the girl, now 14 and in foster care, asked a teacher, "If someone older is having sex with someone younger, is it the younger person's fault?"

The girl later told federal officials Sacco began having sex with her in August 2006, when she was 12.

The girl's relationship to O'Connor is being withheld to preserve the girl's identity. O'Connor rented an apartment in Norwich from Sacco beginning in August 2006, according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin.

The girl described several occasions in which O'Connor allegedly sent her to Sacco for sex, including as a means of paying back rent she owed him for her apartment in his Norwich building. She told police Sacco threatened to kill her if she did not comply.

"Dean told me he was going to stab me and that while I was dying, he was going to slowly rape me," the girl told investigators, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.

In the transcript, the victim also told FBI agents O'Connor would take pictures while Sacco raped her.

She would then put the camera down and get involved, the girl said.

She also said that on two other occasions, O'Connor drove her to a hotel in Johnson City, N.Y., where she had sex with strangers after they paid O'Connor. The girl said one man paid $150; she didn't know how much the other man paid, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric of the Northern District of New York told the Jersey Journal investigators are trying to identify and track down those men.