Man charged for allegedly leaving explicit photos and notes on vehicles in Morris County
MORRIS COUNTY, N.J. — A 74-year-old Budd Lake man has been charged in connection with several incidents in which explicit photos and sexually explicit notes were left on vehicles in Mount Arlington, Randolph Township, and Rockaway Township, authorities said.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll, Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, Mount Arlington Police Officer in Charge Sgt. Ryan Sherburne, Randolph Police Chief Will Harzula, and Rockaway Township Police Chief Robert Scherr Jr. announced that Thomas Hughes was arrested on Oct. 15 and charged with multiple offenses, including endangering the welfare of a child and providing obscene materials to a minor.
Authorities said the first incident occurred on Sept. 30, 2025, when a 17-year-old girl and her mother reported to Mount Arlington police that, after visiting a Quick Check, they discovered a Polaroid photo of male genitalia and a sexually explicit, handwritten note tucked under their vehicle’s windshield.
Investigators later identified Hughes as the person who left the photo and note, officials said. Hughes is also accused of leaving similar explicit notes on two vehicles outside a restaurant in Randolph on Oct. 4, 2025, and another at a restaurant in Rockaway Township on June 15, 2024.
Hughes was charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child (sexual conduct), a third-degree crime; one count of providing obscene materials to a minor, a third-degree crime; three counts of distributing obscene materials, a fourth-degree crime; four counts of lewdness, a disorderly persons offense; and four counts of harassment, a petty disorderly persons offense.
Following his arrest, Hughes was detained at the Morris County Correctional Facility and later released on Pretrial Monitoring Level III with conditions prohibiting contact with the victims and barring him from returning to the businesses involved.
Anyone with information related to the investigation is asked to contact the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit at 973-285-6200.
