Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo and Waterford Police Chief Daniel Cormaney reported a house sitter was charged with distribution and possession of explicit images of minors after he allegedly uploaded and shared illicit files from an IP address at a home he was watching.
Anthony Melora Jr., 27, of Waterford, was arrested yesterday after detectives from the High Tech Crimes Unit of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office discovered several images and videos of explicit images of minors on his computer.
Earlier on Monday, detectives had executed a search warrant at a Cherry Hill home in response to files containing explicit images of minors being uploaded and shared from an IP address associated with the residence.
No files containing explicit images of minors were found on any electronic devices at the residence, but the investigation revealed the son of a family friend, later identified as Melora, had been watching the home while the residents were away. It is alleged Melora had been using the home’s Internet service when detectives monitoring a peer-to-peer file-sharing program first noticed the illicit files being uploaded and shared in November.
Detectives then traveled to Waterford, located Melora at his residence and took him into custody after searching his computer and discovering images and videos of explicit images of minors.
He was charged with one count each of distribution of explicit images of minors and possession of explicit images of minors. His bail was set at $150,000 full cash.
In 2015, the High Tech Crimes Unit has charged more than 30 people for crimes related to the possession and/or distribution of explicit images of minors.