Ex-Deacon At Lakehurst Church Charged With Child Porn Possession

LAKEHURST, NJ — A Berkeley Township man who served as a deacon at St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Lakehurst has been charged with possession of child pornography, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Anthony Laterza, 70, was arrested Thursday after a review of electronic devices seized from his Berkeley Township home revealed images of child pornography, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

"It is our understanding that this defendant serves a deacon at a church in Lakehurst, as such we have made appropriate notifications," Billhimer said.

Father Jim O'Neill, the pastor at St. John's Roman Catholic Church, said Laterza does not serve at the church.

"Deacon Anthony served as a deacon at St. John's for a couple months at the end of 2019. He has not served here at St. John's this year. Nor does he serve as a deacon anywhere in the Diocese of Trenton," O'Neill said in an email to Patch. St. John's is part of the Diocese of Trenton.

Laterza as for a break after just a couple of months, O'Neill said. While Laterza was on that break, O'Neill kept his name on the church's bulletins. "Only after his (Laterza's) temporary, six-month assignment was complete did I decide not to ask for it to be renewed. That's when I removed his name from the bulletin."

Billhimer said the prosecutor's office was alerted by the New Jersey State Police that a Berkeley resident had been downloading child pornography, based on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children relayed to the state police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Detectives from the prosecutor’s High Tech Crime Unit, United States Homeland Security Investigations and the Berkeley Township Police Department, searched Laterza’s home Thursday; a forensic review of seized devices revealed apparent images of child pornography, Billhimer said.

Laterza has been charged with three counts of possession of child pornography and is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.

This article has been updated with a statement from Father Jim O'Neill of St. John's Roman Catholic Church.

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