Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that an Ocean County man who had over 36,000 videos and images of Explicit Images of Minors on his computer devices pleaded guilty today to distributing Explicit Images of Minors. He was one of 40 men arrested in 2016 in “Operation Statewide,” a Explicit Images of Minors sweep by the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children 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.
Officials said Anthony White, 31, of Lakewood, pleaded guilty today to second-degree charges of distributing Explicit Images of Minors and attempting to manufacture Explicit Images of Minors before Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter in Ocean County.
Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that White be sentenced to six years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility and will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life.
Officials said White is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8.
In pleading guilty, White admitted that he knowingly used file-sharing software to make 25 or more files of Explicit Images of Minors readily available for any other user to download from a “shared folder” on his computer. He further admitted in connection with the attempted manufacturing charge that he tried to reproduce images of Explicit Images of Minors that he previously downloaded. While monitoring a peer-to-peer file-sharing network popular with sex offenders, a detective of the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit downloaded 38 videos and images of Explicit Images of Minors from a shared folder at a computer IP address later traced to White.
Police arrested White on July 20, 2016, when members of the DTIU and State Police TEAMS Unit executed a search warrant at his home and seized computer devices, including a desktop computer. A forensic preview of the devices revealed over 36,000 videos and images of Explicit Images of Minors, one of the largest collections of Explicit Images of Minors ever seized by law enforcement in New Jersey.
Operation Statewide was a 2016 multi-agency Explicit Images of Minors sweep coordinated by the New Jersey State Police, as lead agency for the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The operation resulted in arrests of 40 men, including defendants in every county of New Jersey.
Attorney General Grewal 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.