Belleville, Nutley Men Arrested In Massive Child Porn Sweep

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Seventy-nine child predators and child pornography offenders – including men from Belleville and Nutley - were arrested this week in a "massive" bust that netted a camp counselor, a police officer, a swim coach, an Air Force captain and a youth minister, among many others, Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced Thursday in a release.

"Operation Safety Net," a nine-month, multi-agency child protection initiative, targeted sex offenders who exploited the internet and social media, making arrests in every New Jersey county.

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Those arrested included 10 "hands-on" offenders, including child predators who allegedly tried to have children transported interstate from New Jersey by adult traffickers so they could have sex with the children, according to the Office of Attorney General release.

Included in the arrests were:

• Luis Pacheco-Loja, 30, of Belleville, charged with possession and distribution of child pornography
• Brian J. Gardner, 74, of Nutley, charged with possession and distribution of child pornography

Also arrested were four men in New Jersey who allegedly sought to lure children for sex; a camp counselor who allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl; a youth minister who allegedly sent lewd photos of himself to a young girl; and a man who used a phone app to record underage girls performing sex acts.

Those arrested also included numerous defendants, ranging in age from 14 to 75, who allegedly amassed or distributed large collections of child pornography, including a Trenton police officer, a swimming coach, a piano teacher, and an IT professional from Morris County who allegedly had over 138,000 files of suspected child pornography - possibly over 1 million.

Read the full article here.

Reporting by Tom Davis

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