Man Tries To Steal Detective's Gun During Child Porn Investigation At His Home: AG

Two state detectives were injured in a scuffle with a Mercer County man while executing a search warrant at his home as part of a child pornography investigation, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said on Thursday.

The detectives executed a search warrant at the home of 43-year-old Peifeng Meng, of Pennington, on Wednesday.

During the search, detectives said Meng attempted to steal one of their guns, but they were able to subdue him. Two detectives were injured in the scuffle.

As a result, Meng was charged with second-degree attempt to disarm a law enforcement officer and two counts of third-degree aggravated assault on an officer.

Detectives were executing a search warrant as part of an investigation into Meng’s alleged sharing of images and photos of child pornography on the Internet via a file sharing network.

As a result of the search, Meng was charged with second-degree distribution of 25 or more computer files of child pornography and third-degree possession of 100 or more files of child pornography.

He was arrested at his home and lodged in the Mercer County Jail with bail set at $100,000, full cash only.
Meng was arrested as the result of an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, Cyber Crimes Unit.

A detective in the Cyber Crimes Unit was conducting an online investigation on a peer-to-peer file sharing network that is popular with child pornography offenders when she identified a computer address that was being used to download and share child pornography.

The detective successfully downloaded more than 140 computer files of child pornography that allegedly were being shared from that IP address. Detectives said they traced the IP address to Meng’s home.

During the warrant search, detectives say they found child pornography during a preliminary examination of his smart phone.

Computers and other electronic devices were seized and taken to the Division of Criminal Justice Computer Forensic Laboratory in Hamilton for a full forensic examination.

The Hopewell Township Police and ICE Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the execution of the search warrant. The Mercer County Special Victims Unit also assisted in the operation.

The attached image of Peifeng Meng was provided by the Attorney General’s Office.