Skip to main navigationSkip to News Headlines
Global Navigation
Office of The Attorney General
OAG Home
OAG Home Superintendent's Bio
Superintendent's Bio
NJSP Home
> NJSP Home  |  > News Releases
 
2012 New Jersey State Police News Releases NJSP Badge
     Archives  

NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE
OFFICIAL NEWS RELEASE

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Office of Public Information (609) 882-2000
Lt. Stephen Jones - ext. 6513
A/SFC. Brian Polite - ext. 6514
Tpr. I Christopher Kay - ext. 6516

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 17, 2012

Bookmark and Share

Child Porn Sweep Nets 27 in New Jersey

Hamilton Township, Mercer County – Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa today announced the arrests associated with a large scale child porn investigation dubbed Operation Watchdog.  The three-month, multi-agency effort resulted in 26 men and one woman being charged with Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography.

Operation WatchdogOperation Watchdog Arrest List [pdf]

“Through aggressive, technology-driven investigations such as Operation Watchdog, we must banish the misguided notion that online viewing and sharing of child pornography is a victimless crime,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “The vulnerable children who are tortured and degraded to create these vile materials are re-victimized every time another person views the images.  Moreover, these offenders generate the demand that motivates suppliers to produce these odious images.”

The first arrest was Cesar Salgado-Maya, 23, of Audubon, who was arrested on March 1, before the other targets of the operation when he was found to be living in a residence connected to a child daycare center.  Another man, Bernard Cahill, 53, of Folsom, allegedly took photos while sexually assaulting a juvenile.  Those pictures were discovered during the search warrant.  Cahill was additionally charged with Sexual Assault and Manufacturing Child Pornography.

“Those who thought they could hide their child porn crimes in the secrecy of their homes have been exposed by the relentless work of law enforcement working together.  We will continue to stand together—as the name Operation Watchdog implies—as guardians to protect children from those who would make them sexual victims,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

Detectives were able to link all arrested subjects by their use of the Internet to download or distribute images of child pornography.  There is a large library of images and videos known to law enforcement.  These pictures are able to be traced in a number of ways, including their digital fingerprint, as they are passed through cyberspace.  Detectives then follow the file transfers to their origin and destination locations.  Peer to Peer, or P2P, file sharing networks play a significant role in the distribution of child porn.  Detectives, often with intricate undercover identities in the cyber-world, also monitor searches of these sites to develop suspects. 

The Operation Watchdog investigation was coordinated by the Digital Technology Investigations Unit of New Jersey State Police, with seamless integration of more than 100 troopers, agents, detectives and officers from 21 law enforcement agencies.  Between Monday, April 9th and Friday, April 13, they executed search warrants in 26 different towns across the state. 
All of the warrant entries were made by the NJSP T.E.A.M.S. Unit, which is the tactical operations group similar to SWAT. 

One subject, William Brooks, 66, of Pennsauken, had his computer actively running a file sharing program with multiple child porn images when the warrant on his home was served.  With a previous conviction in another state on his record, Brooks was lodged in Camden County Jail in default of $300,000 cash bail.  Three subjects, whose names are not being released at this time, are still being sought.

The Division of Criminal Justice, under Director Stephen J. Taylor, prepared the warrants and provided assistance from the inception of Operation Watchdog in January of 2012.  Their office will prosecute the charges. 

“Let the word go out that those who share child pornography over the Internet are also sharing the evidence of their crimes with computer experts from law enforcement, who are patrolling the Internet to stop this tragic victimization of children,” said Director Taylor. “The Division of Criminal Justice will continue to work hand-in-hand with the State Police and our other law enforcement partners to arrest such offenders.”

All of the New Jersey partner agencies in Operation Watchdog are members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).  Additionally, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI assisted with the investigation and execution of warrants. 

The ICAC Task Force in New Jersey works with other out-of-state partners to share information on potential distributors and users of child pornography.  One major partner is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C.  They maintain a national, toll-free tip line for the public to report crimes against children: 1-800-THE-LOST, or 1-800-843-5678.  That tip line was responsible for bringing more than 900 leads to the New Jersey ICAC on sexual crimes against children.

An operation like this requires a huge amount of logistical preparation.  The State Police Polygraph Unit was used to interview appropriate subjects following the execution of search warrants. The Evidence Management Unit helped catalog the large amount of mostly computer related evidence.  All of the investigations are still considered ongoing since computer media seized as evidence have been turned over to the FBI’s Regional Computer Forensic Lab for thorough examination.  This lab is staffed with partners from several different agencies including the NJSP, and works on case evidence from New Jersey and surrounding states. 

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Because the charges are indictable offenses, they will be presented to a state grand jury for potential indictment.

Below is a list of those arrested during Operation Watchdog:

The following individual was arrested on 04/11/2012 and charged with:
Sexual Assault
Manufacturing Child Pornography
Dist. & Possession of Child Pornography

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

Bernard Cahill

43

Folsom

$150,000 lodged Camden

 

The following individuals were charged with:
Distribution & Possession of Child Pornography

Arrested on 03/01/12:

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

Cesar Salgado-Maya

23

Audubon

$52,500 lodged Camden

 

Arrested on 04/09/12:

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

Charles E Jones

50

Morristown

R.O.R.

Ryan Taylor

27

Lindenwold

R.O.R.

Jeremy Gardner

18

Livingston

R.O.R.

Joshua Kane

31

Wayne

R.O.R.

Max Mejia

46

Atlantic City

R.O.R.

Juvenile Male

17

Moorestown

R.O.R.

 

Arrested on 04/10/12:

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

William J. Brooks

66

Pennsauken

$300,000 lodged Camden

Lucas Francis Walsh

24

Maple Shade

R.O.R.

David Ingoglia

36

Byram

R.O.R.

Scott Hersh

43

Mount Arlington

R.O.R.

 

Arrested on 04/11/12:

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

Brandon Sarna

20

New Brunswick

R.O.R.

John Thomas Kondes

56

Bayonne

R.O.R.

Andrew Rodriguez

27

Park Ridge

R.O.R.

 

Arrested on 04/12/12:

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

Collin Tillett

29

Hamilton (Atlantic Co.)

R.O.R.

Armondo Flores

46

Bridgeton City

$15,000 with ICE detainer

Robert Knapp

47

Old Bridge

R.O.R.

Jose A. Velasquez

20

Clifton

R.O.R.

Jasmyn E. Oliver

20

Union Twp.

R.O.R.

Robert J. Rowe 2nd

33

Union Twp.

R.O.R.

 

Arrested on 04/13/12:

Name

Age

Town

Bail/Status

Joseph Marella

42

Passaic

R.O.R.

Christopher Guzman

32

Camden

$50,000 lodged in Camden

Asaf Guttman

39

Bloomfield

R.O.R.

Jared Pacifici

27

Manalapan

R.O.R.

Joshua Ferreri

25

West Berlin

$250,000 lodged in Camden

John Mulligan

41

Ocean City

R.O.R.

Agencies participating in Operation Watchdog are:

New Jersey State Police

New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

US Postal Service

NJ State Parole

Bergen County Prosecutors Office

Burlington County Prosecutors Office

Cape May County Prosecutors Office

Camden County Prosecutors Office

Cumberland County Prosecutors Office

Essex County Prosecutors Office

Gloucester County Prosecutors Office

Mercer County Prosecutors Office

Monmouth County Prosecutors Office

Morris County Prosecutors Office

Sussex County Prosecutors Office

Passaic County Sheriffs Office

Somerset County Sheriffs Office

Cinnaminson Police Department

Monroe Township (Gloucester Co.) PD

Woodbridge Township PD

 

 

 

 

# # #

Back | Top  
   
Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Legal Statement | Accessibility Statement spacer
NJ Home Logo
Divisional: NJSP Home | Contact NJSP | About NJSP | NJSP News | NJSP FAQs | Recruiting
Departmental: OAG Home | Contact OAG | About OAG | OAG News | OAG FAQs
Statewide: NJ Home | Services A to Z | Departments/Agencies | FAQs
Copyright © State of New Jersey
The State of New Jersey Office of The Attorney General (Dept. of Law & Public Safety) The State of New Jersey NJ Home Services A to Z Departments/Agencies OAG Frequently Asked Questions