WEST BARNSTABLE — A former NHL player and one-time Boston Bruin was arraigned in Barnstable District Court Friday, Sept. 12 after police say he tried to rendezvous with who he thought was a 16-year-old girl but actually a Barnstable police detective.
Eric Nickulas, 50, of West Barnstable, was charged with enticement of a child under 18 by using electronic communication, according to police. Authorities say he responded on Thursday to a series of text messages with Detective Erik McNeice who was posing undercover as a minor female interested in sex.
The detective had created a profile for an online advertisement that appeared “to offer sexual encounters with an adult female,” according to a police report. The detective used an undercover law enforcement account and created the ad designed to target those seeking sex with minors. The website was redacted from the police report.
McNeice had digitally altered a photo of himself using Face App, a photo editing application that uses artificial intelligence, to make him look like a young female.
According to the police report, he received a text message from a telephone later identified as belonging to Nickulas at 12:25 p.m. The person asked about availability for an “in-call,” or meet-up. At that point, McNeice texted Nickulas that he was texting with someone who was under 18.
“I said if that was a problem to let me know,” McNeice wrote in his report.
Nickulas asked for a photo and an age. McNeice sent his digitally altered photo and gave an age of 16, according to the police report.
After several back-and-forth texts, Nickulas agreed to a meeting time and place and $150 for “some fun FS.”
According to McNeice, FS means full service, typically sexual intercourse with oral sex with regards to commercial sex activity.
Detectives were on hand when Nickulas pulled into the Hyannis apartment complex where the meet-up was supposed to be held. He was taken into custody without incident, police said.
Nickulas is next scheduled to appear in District Court on Sept. 17 for a pretrial hearing.
Born in Hyannis, Nickulas played hockey for Barnstable during his sophomore year in high school. He played hockey at a variety of private schools before attending the University of New Hampshire where he played the sport for four years. He signed with the Boston Bruins in 1998 and played until 2001, then from 2005 to 2006. He played for the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks from 2002 to 2004.