Bergen Man Gets 3 Years For Distributing Child Rape Porn Online

A Bergen County man was sentenced to three years in state prison and must register as a sex offender for distributing child pornography on the internet, including images featuring prepubescent girls being raped.

Joseph Lorz, 30, of Bergenfield, pleaded guilty in August to distributing of child pornography after he was arrested during a 2013 sweep of child pornography distribution called Operation Ever Vigilant.

Lorz admitted using file-sharing software to make multiple videos and photos of child porn "readily available" for people to download from a shared folder on his computer, said Attorney General Christopher Porrino.

The images included prepubescent girls being raped by adult men, a forensic examination of Lorz's computer revealed, Porrino said.

“Those who view child pornography online promote and create a market for the brutal sexual exploitation of innocent children,” Porrino said. “We’re making it a top priority to protect children by aggressively prosecuting all offenders who traffic in this filth.”

Lorz was charged in 2013, but before Governor Christie signed New Jersey’s tough new child pornography law, which brought it up the federal standard and increased the penalties for those who possess, distribute or manufacture child pornography.

Operation Ever Vigilant was a three-month investigation by the State Police Department and the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Child Task Force and federal authorities. Twenty-four men and one juvenile were arrested as a result.

During the operation, detectives monitored a file-sharing network popular with sex offenders and linked all of the defendants to alleged use of the internet to download and distribute images of child pornography. Detectives traced transferred files to their origins and destinations, downloading child pornography that the defendants allegedly offered from their computers on the person-to-person network.

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Joseph Lorz, 30 — Attorney General's Office