Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that a Bergen County man was sentenced to prison today for distributing explicit images of minors over the Internet.
Rafael Andreu, 70, of Bogota, was sentenced to four years in state prison, including 20 months of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Christopher R. Kazlau in Bergen County. Andreu pleaded guilty on Sept. 27 to a charge of second-degree distribution of explicit images of minors.
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, Andreu admitted that he knowingly used Internet file-sharing software to make files containing explicit images of minors readily available for any other user to download from a designated “shared folder” on his computer. Numerous videos of explicit images of minors, including child rape videos, were found on his computer.
In August 2015, detectives from the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police were investigating individuals using file-sharing software to share explicit images of minors on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network on the Internet when they identified a computer that was being used to share explicit images of minors.
The detectives downloaded multiple files of explicit images of minors from a shared folder at the IP address, which was traced to Andreu’s residence in Bogota. On Sept. 9, 2015, members of the investigating agencies executed a search warrant at the residence, where they arrested Andreu and seized computer equipment. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office completed a full forensic review of a computer tower seized from the home and discovered approximately 180 videos and images of explicit images of minors stored in a shared folder.
Attorney General Porrino and Director Honig urged anyone with information about the distribution of explicit images of minors on the Internet – or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children online or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tip line at 888-648-6007.