A Union County grand jury has returned a three-count indictment against a Plainfield man charged with distributing Explicit Images of Minors, acting Union County Prosecutor Ann M. Luvera announced Monday.
According to authorities, Fernando Cossagvic, 22, is additionally charged with possession of Explicit Images of Minors and possession of false government documents.
Prosecutor’s Office detectives in January 2017 received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating that a graphic video depicting the sexual assault of a prepubescent child had been uploaded to the Internet from an address in Plainfield, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Barnes, who is prosecuting the case.
The investigation led detectives to a residence on West Fourth Street in Plainfield, where they subsequently executed a search warrant, seizing multiple electronic devices and arresting Cossagvic, who had been living under an alias and had multiple fake government documents in his possession, Barnes said.
The child depicted in the video Cossagvic allegedly uploaded remains unidentified.
Convictions on charges of this nature are commonly punishable by terms of five to 10 years in state prison and registry as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
These criminal charges are mere accusations. Each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.