Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that an Ocean County man who had over 36,000 videos and images of sexual assaults of a child or simulated videos on his computer devices was sentenced today to state prison. He was one of 40 men arrested in 2016 in “Operation Statewide”.
According to authorities, Anthony White, 31, of Lakewood, was sentenced today to six years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter in Ocean County. He pleaded guilty on Mar. 6th to second-degree charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and attempting to manufacture such videos. 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, White admitted that he knowingly used file-sharing software to make 25 or more files 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 sexual assault of a child or simulations 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 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, one of the largest collections ever seized by law enforcement in New Jersey.
Attorney General Grewal and Director Allende urged anyone with information of sexual assault of a child or simulated videos or images on the internet – or 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.