A Mercer County man was sentenced today to 135 months in prison for distributing images of child sexual abuse from his home computer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Shawn Brown, 35, of Ewing, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to one count of a three-count an indictment charging him with distributing child pornography over the Internet. Judge Thompson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Brown admitted that on July 14, 2013, he distributed a video depicting child sexual abuse on the Internet to another individual via instant messaging software.
Authorities were first alerted to Brown’s conduct when an undercover agent discovered and downloaded images and videos containing child pornography that Brown had made available to users of a peer-to-peer file sharing network. Law enforcement traced the username and IP address of the sharer back to Brown’s residence.
A review of Brown’s electronic devices, seized pursuant to a search warrant, revealed that Brown had been using aliases to contact underage girls online via instant messaging software and social media, where he had created a fake profile posing as a teenage boy.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Thompson sentenced Brown to lifetime supervised release.