MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll and Chief of Detectives Robert McNally confirmed that Andrew Ryan Hendershot, 32, of Rockaway Borough, has been charged in connection with multiple online communications allegedly made with undercover agents posing as minor children.
The investigation began in February 2025 based on a referral from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (Minnesota) to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. Hendershot is alleged to have engaged in sexually explicit conversations via Snapchat with what he believed to be a 14-year-old female child, but which was an undercover PCSO agent. The investigation would reveal Hendershot as a Rockaway Borough, Morris County resident.
Once the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigation, the defendant began engaging in sexual text conversations with undercover law enforcement officers from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force posing as a 13-year-old female child and an 11-year-old female child. Hendershot also allegedly sent the 13-year-old persona explicit videos of himself. Hendershot asked and agreed to meet with the 13-year-old persona at a coffee shop in Morris County on a certain date.
As a result of the investigation, the defendant was arrested on February 28 and charged with second degree Attempted Sexual Assault; second degree Attempted Luring; two counts of third degree Attempted Endangering the Welfare of a Child – Sexual Conduct; third degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child – Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM); third degree Obscenity; and fourth degree Attempted Criminal Sexual Conduct.
Under the Criminal Justice Reform Act, Hendershot has been detained in the Morris County Correctional Facility pending a future detention hearing.
The arrest resulted from coordination among several law enforcement agencies, including the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (Minnesota), the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, the Rockaway Borough Police Department, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes Unit, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Editors Note: The court’s rules require us to include a statement that states: The charges outlined in this publication are merely accusations, and the defendant and/or defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
