A grand jury has indicted a 38-year-old Burlington man on nine criminal charges after prosecutors say he spent years posing online as a teenage boy to coerce underage girls into creating child sexual abuse material. Kareem Abdel-Rahman has been held in the Burlington County Jail since his arrest in late August, and investigators say they are still trying to identify additional victims.
According to News 12 New Jersey, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office announced that Abdel-Rahman was indicted on charges including causing or permitting a child to create child sexual abuse material, distribution and possession of such material, aggravated sexual extortion, debauching the morals of a child, and providing obscenity to a minor. As reported by nj1015.com, the counts specifically include two charges of causing or permitting a child to create child sexual abuse material, first-degree distribution of 1,000 or more items, and possession of between 1,000 and 99,000 items.
Investigators allege Abdel-Rahman used social media to communicate with multiple underage girls while pretending to be a teenage boy, sending them pornographic material and asking them to create and send sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. Daily Voice reports that at least two girls responded by sending him material of themselves after he requested it.
Threats Allegedly Used to Pressure a Victim
In one instance, the outlet's report notes, a girl sent material only after Abdel-Rahman told her he was going to kill himself if she did not comply. Once he received material from victims, authorities allege he would share and trade it for other child sexual abuse material, building out a wider network of illicit content.
Investigators say Abdel-Rahman distributed more than 30,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material over the past three years using Snapchat and Telegram. The case against him began after law enforcement received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which alerted the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office to his alleged online activity.
Arrest, Jail Hold and an Ongoing Hunt for Victims
Abdel-Rahman was arrested on Aug. 20 and has remained in the Burlington County Jail since then, per the same account.
Detectives are seeking additional potential victims as the investigation continues. Anyone with relevant information is urged to contact the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office at 609-265-5035, nj1015.com reports.
Part of a Surging National Problem
The case lands amid a dramatic rise in reported online exploitation nationwide. The CyberTipline run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 1.4 million reports concerning online enticement in 2025 alone, with such reports up 158% from the year before and child sex trafficking reports up 323% over the same period. The organization also logged an average of 137 financial sextortion reports per day last year, a 37% increase, and escalated more than 53,000 urgent or imminent-danger cases to law enforcement.
Abdel-Rahman's case is not the only one of its kind to surface in Burlington County recently; another Burlington County man was charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material in a case reported by NBC10 Philadelphia earlier this year. For now, prosecutors continue working to determine the full scope of Abdel-Rahman's alleged activity and whether more victims will come forward.
