Mercer County Man Admits To Sharing 12,000 Child Porn Files: AG

A Mercer County man who had more than 12,000 files of child pornography on his computer devices has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography online through a peer-to-peer network, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced on Thursday.

Matthew Brutto, 32, of Ewing, pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge of distribution of child pornography. He admitted that he knowingly used file-sharing software to make multiple files of child pornography readily available for any other user to download from a “shared folder” on his computer.

Detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau were monitoring an online file-sharing network that is popular with offenders who download and trade child pornography when they identified a computer address that was sharing child pornography, according to authorities.

Detectives successfully downloaded a total of 42 files of child pornography being shared from that IP address, which was traced to Brutto’s home in Ewing on three different occasions in March. He was arrested after detectives executed a search warrant at his home and seized his devices on April 10.

The computer devices were brought to the Division of Criminal Justice Forensics Laboratory in Hamilton, where a forensic examination revealed over 12,000 videos and images of child pornography on a computer hard drive.

Detectives with the Division of Criminal Justice, assisted by a special agent of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and detectives of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and Ewing Police Department, executed the search warrant.

“Offenders like Brutto who share child pornography online perpetuate the victimization of the children who are sexually assaulted to produce these vile materials, and they further motivate those who commit these horrific assaults,” Grewal said. “Protecting children is our highest priority, and we will continue to collaborate across all levels of law enforcement to send these offenders to prison.”

“Offenders like Brutto may collect thousands of files of child pornography over an extended period of time, but we want them to know that law enforcement will ultimately catch up with them,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice. “When we do, they will face serious punishment for their crimes — punishment that may be stricter due to the extent of their collections and their distribution activities.”

Brutto faces five years in state prison, including 2 ½ years of parole ineligibility. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 5.

The attached image of Matthew Brutto was provided by the Attorney General’s Office