Child Predator Busted By NJ Authorities and Bensalem Police
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Things are not looking well for Steven Patras, 65, of Hainesport, NJ. He keeps getting arrested for trying to meet underage girls for sex. Back in April of this year, he was chatting on a social media app, he came across what he thought was a 13 year old girl. Police said Patras started to ask the girl about sex and asked her intimate questions.
It even went so far as for Patras to inquire if the girl had gone through puberty yet. Patras wanted her measurements and he was going to buy her sexy clothes for the girl to wear when he came to Bensalem on June 12, 2025.
To show the girl how serious he was, Patras sent the girl naked photos of himself and asked for some in return. The girl was an undercover detective. Before Patras could find that out, he abruptly cancelled the meeting and did not re schedule another one.
Patras was apprehended on June 30, 2025, by investigators from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey for similar offenses. During his arrest, his cellular device was seized, and the 2 months of messages with the Bensalem child were discovered on that device. Steven Patras was sent to prison in New Jersey, and shortly after, Bensalem Police obtained an arrest warrant and lodged it as a detainer, which held him in jail until his extradition to Pennsylvania could be arranged.
That detainer kicked in and he was brought back to Bensalem where he met the detective pretending to be the 13 year old girl. Patras was charged with Attempted Sexual Abuse of Children, Unlawful Contact with a Minor, and related offenses. He was arraigned by District Justice Michael Gallagher and remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10% of $2,000,000 bail.