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Mount Vernon Man Accused Of Using Pet Services App To Lure Teen Into His Home

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Westchester County man is accused of using a pet services app to lure a teenage girl into his Mount Vernon home and then sexually assaulting her.

The district attorney's office said this isn't the first time he's tried something like this.

Authorities said Charles "Chuck J" Johnson pretended to be a pet owner searching for a dog sitter. He's accused of using Rover.com, a pet services app, to trick the teen, who was interested in working for him, to come to his home. When she arrived, he allegedly trapped her behind a locked door, offered her money for sex acts and exposed himself before groping her.

There was never a dog in the house, authorities said.

"It's terrible, it's awful," Mount Vernon resident Sean Barry said. "Definitely put him away."

"It's very upsetting," said resident John Torres. "That's the downside to using social media for these services."

Dog owners at a local park were disgusted to learn Johnson had been on police radar for allegedly luring women in the past, CBS2's Jessica Layton reported.

Last year, CBS2 revealed a man targeted students in nearby Yonkers, posting flyers that said "Cheerleaders Wanted" near Roosevelt High School, advertising "I will pay you to cheer me on while I exercise in my house doing push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups."

That was after similar flyers were found offering a sketchy-sounding job that paid $50 an hour to "videotape me with my cellphone while I exercise in my home doing push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups."

Police believe Johnson was behind in those cases, as well, and possibly others.

Johnson was not charged in the previous cases, but has now been remanded to jail because of three prior felony convictions. He's due back in court on May 24.

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