Freehold Gymnastics School Owner Indicted On Child Porn Charge

FREEHOLD, NJ — The owner of a now-defunct gymnastics school has been indicted on charges of possession of child pornography, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced Tuesday.

Ronald J. Charles, 53, of Love Lane in Freehold Township, who formerly owned Galaxy Gymnastics School, was arraigned Tuesday before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David Bauman on one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for possession of child pornography, Gramiccioni said.

Charles was arrested in December 2015 by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit after the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Regional Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the prosecutor's office said.

The tip reported a person, later identified as Charles, attempted to send multiple images of child pornography via his personal email address, authorities said. Based on that information, a search warrant was issued leading to the seizure of a computer from Charles’ home office; a lengthy and complicated forensic examination of his computer revealed numerous images of child pornography, Gramiccioni said.

Charles’ arrest occurred prior to the bail reform act that took effect on January 1, 2017. Following his arrest in December 2015, Charles was released after posting $40,000 bail with no 10 percent option, as set by Freehold Township Municipal Court Judge Nicole Sonnenblick. As a condition of his bail, Sonnenblick prohibited Charles from having any unsupervised contact with any minors and barred him from using the Internet. He remains released on bail, the prosecutor's office said.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Margaret Koping of the Office’s Computer Crimes Unit. Charles is represented by Eric Nelson, Esq., of Ocean Township and Staten Island, N.Y.

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