| TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Cumberland County man pleaded guilty today to distributing child pornography. He was one of 28 defendants charged in two offender sweeps under Operation Predator Alert, a joint operation by the Division of Criminal Justice and ICE Homeland Security Investigations that targeted offenders in New Jersey who used a file-sharing network to download and distribute child pornography, including child rape videos, on the Internet.
Jeffrey Mander, 27, of Bridgeton, pleaded guilty to second-degree distribution of child pornography before Superior Court Judge Robert G. Malestein in Cumberland County. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that he be sentenced to six years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law. Deputy Attorney General Lilianne Daniel prosecuted Mander and took the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau. Mander is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 15, 2016.
In pleading guilty, Mander admitted that prior to his arrest on Oct. 1, 2013, he knowingly used Internet file-sharing software to make files containing child pornography readily available for any other user to download from a designated “shared folder” on his laptop computer. The investigating agencies executed a search warrant at Mander’s home, seizing two cell phones and a laptop computer. A forensic examination of the laptop computer at the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in Hamilton revealed 289 videos of child pornography located in Mander’s shared folder. The videos showed the rape and sexual abuse of children of both genders, ranging in age from young teens down to toddlers.
“By putting offenders like Mander in prison, we send a critical message that this is a very serious crime,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “The notion that viewing and sharing child pornography is a victimless crime is exposed as offensive when you read the descriptions of the horrific videos involving very young children that were found on Mander’s laptop computer. Mander and the other offenders who swap these videos directly motivate the victimization of those children.”
“Users of child pornography often believe they can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet, but we have the technology to detect their crimes and follow their digital tracks right to their doorsteps,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We’re putting these offenders on notice that we’re going to hunt them down and put them behind bars.”
“Distribution of child pornography steals the innocence of children and destroys lives,” said Kevin Kelly, Acting Special Agent in Charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Newark. “Criminals everywhere should take notice that HSI special agents along with our state and local partners are actively working to identify and disrupt the trade of these illegal images, and to seek prosecution of the criminals who produce and possess them.”
During Operation Predator Alert, special agents of HSI monitored an online file-sharing network that is popular with offenders who download and trade child pornography. Using advanced technology, the agents searched for telltale digital “fingerprints” of known child pornography, as well as search terms used by those who download and share child pornography. Through these and other methods, they identified New Jersey residents who were downloading child pornography and making child pornography available to others in “shared folders” on their computers. The files included videos showing pre-pubescent boys and girls being raped or being coerced into performing sexual acts on themselves or others. The Division of Criminal Justice obtained arrest warrants, which they executed with HSI and numerous other law enforcement agencies.
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.
Special agents for the ICE Homeland Security Investigations Cherry Hill and Newark Offices conducted Operation Predator Alert in partnership with the Division of Criminal Justice. Acting Attorney General Hoffman thanked HSI, the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit and the numerous local police departments, county prosecutors’ offices and county sheriffs’ offices that assisted with the arrests and investigations. The operations were supervised and conducted for the Division of Criminal Justice by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Michael Monahan, who is Chief of the Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, former Deputy Bureau Chief Kenneth Sharpe, Lt. Lisa Shea and Detective Sgt. Thomas Turley; Deputy Attorneys General Jillian Carpenter, Lilianne Daniel, Denise Grugan, Naju Lathia, Marie McGovern and Anand Shah; Detectives Abraham Aquino, Richard DaSilva, Cheryl Smith, Kimberly Allen, Matthew Burd, William Jett, Ryan Kirsh, Suzanna Lopez, Jessica Maracacci, Heather Pittman, Robert Rosa, Katelyn Sake, Andrew Shrader, and Danielle Terracianno; and Executive Assistant Cynthia Ronan and Administrative Assistant Lori Pannone. Detective Sgt. Turley and Detective Smith handled the investigation of Mander with Deputy Attorney General Daniel.
Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice urged anyone with information about the distribution of child pornography on the Internet – or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the Internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 1-888-648-6007. #### |
