TRENTON - A Howell police sergeant has been indicted on charges that he tried to lure for sex a person he thought was a 15-year-old girl he met online, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced in a statement Wednesday.

The officer, 48-year-old Richard Conte of Farmingdale, was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on charges of second-degree official misconduct, second-degree luring, enticing a child, third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree attempted sexual contact with victim aged 13 to 15, the statement read.

Conte has been suspended without pay from the department since his arrest on Sept. 6, 2018. He was earning $139,005, according to DataUniverse records.

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Conte's arrest was part of a sting dubbed "Operation Open House," which resulted in the arrest of 24 men who were accused of using social media to lure underage girls and boys for sex, according to a statement from the attorney general. Learn more about the sting in the video at the top of this story.

The "girl" Conte was charged with talking to online was really an undercover detective, authorities said. When he showed up to meet the "girl" last year in Toms River, Conte had condoms in his pocket and was arrested on the scene, the statement read.

"Although the 'girl' repeatedly indicated that she was 15 years old, Conte continued to chat with her online and email her," the statement read. The statement said he allegedly used his work phone to talk to the girl and told her he was 19 years old.

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The case has been assigned to Ocean County, where Conte will be ordered to appear in court at a later date for arraignment.

Conte was released from jail last year on home detention and ordered to get a mental health evaluation, according to a directive from state Superior Court Judge Rochelle Gizinski.

Conte was only allowed to leave his home for pretrial services, appointments, meetings with his attorneys, court appearances and doctor's appointments, said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman with the attorney general's office, after Conte's arrest last year. He's prohibited from using the internet and is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors.

In a statement posted to Facebook Wednesday afternoon following news of the indictment, Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick said he and the department were "repulsed" by the allegations.

Kudrick said it will ultimately fall to the township manager to determine Conte's future employment status, but he recommended "immediate termination."

"This accusation is a serious breach of the public’s trust and the integrity of this police department," Kudrick said in the statement. "It is an embarrassment and insult to everyone who honorably wears the Howell patch on our sleeve and the badge upon our chest. His actions are not a reflection of the officers or this department. I can assure you we are all repulsed."

Keith Schubert is the morning breaking news reporter. He is a recent graduate at the University of Minnesota and has worked in multiple newsrooms including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He can be contacted via text, call or signal at 732-239-8731 or emailed at kschubert@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @keithsch94.