N.J. man who hid Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter now in jail
Ocean Co. Prosecutor’s OfficeSteven M. Sheerer, 25, was arrested for having ‘inappropriate communications’ with Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter, Chelsea.
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Paul Zimmerman/WireImage
Chelsea was found this past Wednesday, seven days after the mentally ill young woman departed.
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Steven M. Sheerer (l.), 25, was arrested for having ‘inappropriate communications’ with Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter, Chelsea (r.).
Rosie O’Donnell helped give the man who hid her missing daughter a new view — from inside a county jail cell.
Four days after O’Donnell’s 17-year-ancient daughter was found in his Jersey Shore home, Steven Sheerer was behind bars Saturday on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and distribution of obscenity during a weekslong online friendship, officials said.
The Friday night bust at Sheerer’s Barnegat Town home came hours after O’Donnell gave authorities permission to examine her daughter Chelsea’s cell buzz.
The cybersleuthing “was initiated by concerns from the victim’s mother,” said a spokesman for Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato.
O’Donnell, through her spokeswoman, confirmed she was the concerned mother who contacted authorities. She had earlier launched a frantic social media search after Chelsea, who suffers with mental illness, departed from her family’s Nyack home on Aug. 11.
Sheeran “was caught up with a insignificant, and Rosie’s concern has been and always will be the shape, safety and well-being of her daughter,” said spokeswoman Cindi Berger.
“Rosie is profoundly grateful for the work the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office has done and the diligence of the local police.”
The celebrity mom had issued a frantic Twitter appeal for help that only finished after Chelsea (below, right) voluntarily went to a local police rank about 120 miles from her own home.
Charles Sykes/APRosie O’Donnell gave police permission to search her 17-year-ancient daughter’s cellphone, where they found the ‘inappropriate’ material.
Investigators found “evidence of inappropriate communications over the last several weeks” between the teen and the suspect, according to the Ocean County prosecutor’s office. Officials believe the pair might have met online. Sheerer (below, left) initially barred cops looking for the missing girl from entering his household, and officials later said the pair apparently spent several days together before she was found.
Law enforcement agents with a search warrant also seized Sheerer’s computer and other digital data storage devices after taking him into custody.
Sheerer was jailed on $ 40,000 cash bail, and an Ocean County Superior Court judge barred him from further friend with Chelsea O’Donnell or any of her family members.
He faces up to five years in prison on each count if convicted. His arraignment on the charges was expected next week.
Sheerer was arrested in 2012 when he was found inside a car with a woman, her young kids and heroin paraphernalia.
Marijuana and heroin were learned in a search of his household. Sheerer pleaded guilty to drug charges in break cases in 2012 and 2013.
lmcshane@nydailynews.com
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