Manalapan Man Admits To Sharing Child Porn

MANALAPAN, NJ — A Union County man from Elizabeth and a Monmouth County man from Manalapan were each sentenced Friday to state prison for distributing videos and images of child pornography online. Both men were nabbed during “Operation Safeguard,” a child pornography sweep done by ICE agents and New Jersey State Police last year.

• Burt G. Harvey-Martinez, 35, pictured at left, of Elizabeth, N.J., was sentenced Friday, Aug. 25, to six years in state prison, including 2 ½ years of parole ineligibility.
• William Morgan, 61, of Manalapan, N.J., at right, was sentenced Friday, Aug. 25, to three years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Richard W. English in Monmouth County.

Each of these two men previously pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree distribution of child pornography (storing or maintaining child pornography using a file-sharing program).

Morgan was arrested on March 24, 2016, when agents and detectives conducting Operation Safeguard executed a search warrant at his residence in Manalapan. Detectives monitoring a peer-to-peer network had associated him with more than 200 files of suspected child pornography. During the search, detectives seized computer equipment belonging to Morgan that contained numerous files of child pornography, including files store in a shared folder where they were readily available for any other user to download using file-sharing software.

Harvey-Martinez was arrested on July 19, 2016 in a separate but similar investigation targeting users sharing child pornography on a file-sharing network. Detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice downloaded several files of child pornography from an IP address traced to Harvey-Martinez. They then executed a search warrant at his residence in Elizabeth, where they seized his laptop computer, which contained numerous videos and images of child pornography. A forensic preview of the laptop revealed approximately 1,459 files of suspected child pornography in a shared folder. The Elizabeth Police Department assisted in the operation.

During Operation Safeguard, ICE agents and New Jersey State Police monitored several online file-sharing networks that are popular with offenders who download and trade child pornography. Using advanced technology, the investigators searched for telltale digital “fingerprints” of known child pornography, as well as search terms used by those who download and share child pornography. Through these and other methods, they identified New Jersey residents who were downloading child pornography and making child pornography available to others in “shared folders” on their computers.

“These men joined the depraved network of criminals who directly drive the sexual exploitation and torture of children by distributing child pornography,” said New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino. “We’re making it a top priority to lock up these offenders who wantonly victimize children.”

“Sharing videos and images of children being raped, tortured and abused is just as despicable as the very acts,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “We will continue to safeguard children by exposing these animals who hide behind the veil of a computer screen.”

Both Morgan and Harvey-Martinez will be required to register as sex offenders under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life.

Photos released by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office; Burt G. Harvey-Martinez at left, William Morgan at right.