Global Navigation
Office of The Attorney General
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
Services A to Z Departments/Agencies OAG Frequently Asked Questions
OAG Home
OAG Contact
spacer
Back to News Releases
OAG Home Attorney General's Biography
Attorney General's Biography
spacer spacer spacer
   
 
spacer spacer spacer
spacer spacer spacer
For Immediate Release: For Further Information:
October 10, 2014

Office of The Attorney General
- John J. Hoffman, Acting Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
- Elie Honig, Director
Media Inquiries-
Peter Aseltine
609-292-4791


Citizen Inquiries-

609-984-5828
spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer
Middlesex County Man with Prior Conviction for Sexually Assaulting Child Sentenced to Prison for Sharing Child Pornography on Internet
spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer
click to enlarge image
spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer

TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Middlesex County man was sentenced to prison today for sharing child pornography on the Internet.  He was arrested in 2013 in “Operation Ever Vigilant,” a child pornography sweep by the New Jersey State Police, Division of Criminal Justice, the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and federal partners.

Stephen Rainone, 28, of South Amboy, was sentenced to five years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz in Middlesex County.  He pleaded guilty on June 20 to a second-degree charge of offering child pornography.  Rainone admitted that he knowingly used file sharing software to make multiple files containing child pornography available for any other user to download from a designated “shared folder” on his computer.  Deputy Attorney General Lilianne M. Daniel prosecuted Rainone and took the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.

Rainone was arrested on Feb. 13, 2013, by state troopers and state parole officers. Rainone became a target of Operation Ever Vigilant after a State Police detective monitoring a file-sharing network popular with sex offenders downloaded several videos of child pornography from a shared folder on his computer. While the computer address initially was traced to the home of Rainone’s neighbor, it was determined that Rainone was accessing the Internet illegally and in violation of his parole conditions via the neighbor’s wireless connection. Rainone was subject to parole supervision for life under Megan’s Law as a result of his guilty plea in 2005 to engaging in oral sex with a 12-year-old girl. He was sentenced to four years in prison for that crime.  The State Police contacted the New Jersey State Parole Board to determine Rainone’s parole status, and parole officers joined the investigation. Rainone has remained incarcerated since his arrest on Feb. 13, 2013 as a result of multiple parole violations.

“The offenders who share child pornography online frequently include predators like Rainone who don’t stop with that heinous crime, but seek out children to sexually abuse themselves,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “These Internet-based investigations and sweeps are vital, because they enable us to put child predators like Rainone in prison, in addition to the other defendants who directly drive sexual exploitation of children by viewing these abhorrent materials.”

“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to maintain vigilance on the Internet,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We will not stand by and allow the Internet to be a lawless realm where children can be exploited and re-victimized in perpetuity through the free trading of child pornography.”

“To those who claim that viewing child pornography does not victimize children, cases like this show how intertwined child porn and sexual assault actually are,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “Our detectives will stay on the leading edge of investigations against those distributing this terrible material.”

Operation Ever Vigilant was a three-month investigation conducted by the State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit, the Division of Criminal Justice, other members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and federal agents from the U.S. Postal Service. It resulted in arrests of 24 men and one juvenile male in February 2013.

During the investigation, detectives linked all of the defendants to alleged use of the Internet to download and distribute images of child pornography.  Peer to Peer, or P2P, file sharing networks play a major role in the distribution of child pornography.  There is a large library of images and videos known to law enforcement, and these electronic files can be traced in various ways on the Internet. Detectives traced transferred files to their origin and destination locations, downloading child pornography that the defendants allegedly offered from their computers on the P2P network.

The file-sharing networks used by offenders to distribute child pornography operate in the same manner as websites used for privately sharing music or movies. Those in possession of the illegal images can make them available on computers that they control for others to download. Because many of these videos and photos of child pornography keep recirculating, they result in the perpetual re-victimization of the children who were sexually assaulted or abused to produce them.

Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Honig urged anyone who has information about the distribution of child pornography on the Internet or who suspects improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the Internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children to contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.

spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer
 
 
Contact OAG About OAG
OAG News OAG Frequently Asked Questions
OAG Library Employment
OAG Grants Proposed Rules
OAG History OAG Services A-Z
OAG Agencies / Programs / Units
Other News Pages Otras Noticias en Español Division of NJ State Police Division of Law News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Gaming Enforcement News
NJ State Police News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Elections News Division of Gaming Enforcement News Office of Government Integrity News

free PDF plugin

NJ State Police News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Elections News Division of Gaming Enforcement News Office of Government Integrity News
   
Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Legal Statement | Accessibility Statement
NJ Home Logo
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
This page is maintained by OAG Communications. Comments/Questions: email or call 609-292-4925
OAG Home OAG Home NJ State Police News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Elections News Division of Gaming Enforcement News Office of Government Integrity News Click to Enlarge Image Click to Enlarge Image Click to Enlarge Graphic Click to enlarge chart Click to enlarge map Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge