Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy announced that an Atlantic County man was sentenced to prison today for distributing explicit images of minors on the Internet.
He was arrested in 2013 in “Operation Ever Vigilant,” a explicit images of minors sweep by the New Jersey State Police, the Division of Criminal Justice, the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and federal partners.
Nil Choudhury, 27, of Margate, was sentenced today to four years in state prison by Superior Court Bernard E. DeLury Jr. in Atlantic County.
He pleaded guilty on March 28 to second-degree distribution of explicit images of minors by offering and fourth-degree possession of explicit images of minors.
Those charges were contained in a 2013 state grand jury indictment. Choudhury will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
In pleading guilty, Choudhury 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 designated “shared folder” on his computer. He became a target of Operation Ever Vigilant after a detective in the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit (DTIU) downloaded two videos of explicit images of minors from a shared folder on his computer while monitoring a file-sharing network popular with sex offenders. The computer address from which the videos were downloaded was traced to Choudhury’s residence.
When members of the State Police DTIU, the State Police TEAMS South Unit and the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force executed a search warrant at Choudhury’s home on Feb. 19, 2013, a forensic preview of his personal computer revealed numerous images and videos of explicit images of minors.
During the investigation, detectives linked all of the defendants to alleged use of the Internet to download and distribute images of explicit images of minors.
Detectives traced transferred files to their origin and destination locations, downloading explicit images of minors that the defendants allegedly offered from their computers on the P2P network.
Acting Attorney General Lougy 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.