Morris Co. Man Had 138K Child Porn Images: NJ AG

LONG HILL, NJ — A Long Hill man has pled guilty to distributing child pornography after over 138,000 images were found on his computer, NJ Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced.

William G. Camargo, 48, of Long Hill Township was arrested as part of “Operation Safety Net,” a multi-agency child pornography sweep last year. He pled guilty in Superior Court on Tuesday in a plea agreement; he is expected to be sentenced to six years in jail, and will have to register as a sex offender..

Camargo, an IT professional, hosted and shared child porn through a shared online folder, Grewal said. A Sept. 2017 search of his home and hard drives turned up 138,000 images of child pornography, and an additional 1.3 million files that have yet to be examined. It's not known how many of those files contain illegial images.

“Each time we arrest an offender like Camargo who has amassed a collection of tens of thousands of files of child pornography, it starkly reveals the extent of the market for these loathsome materials and the vast number of children who are cruelly abused and exploited,” said Grewal. “We will continue to devote the resources necessary to apprehend these offenders and send them to prison.”

Carmargo was one of 79 arrested last September in a large-scale operation. The operation was lead by the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force of the New Jersey State Police, and involved the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), all 21 County Prosecutors’ Offices, and numerous local police departments.

“We will continue to patrol the internet and conduct multi-agency investigations to arrest and prosecute offenders like Camargo who distribute child pornography,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We are determined to seek justice for the children who are victimized to create these repugnant materials and who are re-victimized perpetually on the internet.”

“It is a sad fact that each year countless children around the world fall prey to sexual predators, their innocence forever stolen and exploited through these disturbing digital collections,” said Brian Michael, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Newark. “The expert investigative skills that HSI brings to the forefront, in collaboration with our partner agencies, helped close the loop on this individual, and took a dangerous predator off the street and brought him to much deserved justice.”

Images via NJ AG, Shutterstock