By: Richard L. Smith
A Millburn resident admitted producing multiple videos depicting the sexual assault of children, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
According to Federal officials, Antonio Del Prado, 61, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count each of production of explicit images of children and production of explicit photos of minors abroad with intent to transport into the United States.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In October 2020, law enforcement officials learned that Del Prado had uploaded multiple items of suspected explicit images of minors to an internet-based cloud storage system.
The investigation also revealed that Del Prado had a woman live-stream a video of a child being sexually assaulted by Del Prado.
Del Prado was arrested at his home in November 2020, at which time agents seized multiple electronic devices that were found to contain exploit photos of minors.
Further investigation revealed that on multiple occasions, Del Prado explicit contact of children in the Philippines and transmitted video recordings of those assaults into the United States.
The charges in the information each carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 25, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel, in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.