TRENTON –Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a repeat child offender was sentenced to state prison today for distributing videos and Explicit Images of Minors online using a file-sharing program.
Police say he was arrested in “Operation Safety Net,” a multi-agency child protection operation led by the New Jersey Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
According to police James R. Agin, 71, of Westwood, N.J., a freelance photographer, was sentenced to six years in prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Frances McGrogan in Bergen County.
Police say Agin pleaded guilty on Feb. 4th to second-degree distribution of Explicit Images of Minors (storing or maintaining child pornography using a file-sharing program).
Agin must register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life. He pleaded guilty in 2007 in Bergen County to a prior Explicit Images of Minors charges and was sentenced to probation.
Deputy Attorney General Jamie Picard prosecuted Agin and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.
“By sending defendants like Agin to prison, we deliver the message that possessing and distributing child pornography are severe crimes – crimes that create a market for the terrible abuse of innocent children,” said Attorney General Grewal. “This prison sentence reflects our determination to prosecute these offenders aggressively using New Jersey’s tough child endangerment laws.”