Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that an Ocean County man was sentenced to prison today for distributing explicit images of minors on the Internet.
He was arrested last year in “Operation Statewide,” a explicit images of minors sweep by the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which includes the New Jersey State Police, Division of Criminal Justice, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, and numerous state, county and local law enforcement agencies.
Fabian Maldonado-Espinosa, 32, of Lakewood, was sentenced today to five years in state prison, including 2 ½ years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Ocean County. Maldonado-Espinosa pleaded guilty on Jan. 23 to second-degree distribution of explicit images of minors. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life.
In pleading guilty, Maldonado-Espinosa admitted that he knowingly used file sharing software to make multiple files containing explicit images of minors readily available for any other user to download from a “shared folder” on his computer. The New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit (DTIU) downloaded a video of explicit images of minors from a shared folder on Maldonado-Espinosa’s computer while monitoring a peer-to-peer file-sharing network popular with sex offenders.
The video showed a prepubescent girl performing a sexual act on an adult man. The computer address from which the video was downloaded was traced to Maldonado-Espinosa’s residence.
He was arrested on July 20, 2016, when members of the State Police DTIU executed a search warrant at his residence and seized several devices, including laptop computers, hard drives and an iPad.
A forensic exam of one of the laptops revealed multiple videos and images of explicit images of minors in a shared folder.
Operation Statewide was a multi-agency explicit images of minors sweep coordinated by the New Jersey State Police, as lead agency for the New Jersey ICAC Task Force, that led to arrests of 40 men last year, including defendants in every county of New Jersey.
Attorney General Porrino and Director Honig urged anyone with information about distribution of explicit images of minors on the Internet – or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the Internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.