Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Cumberland County man was sentenced to state prison today for distributing Explicit Images of Minors.
He was one of 28 defendants charged in two offender sweeps under Operation Predator Alert, a joint operation by the Division of Criminal Justice and ICE Homeland Security Investigations that targeted offenders in New Jersey who used a file-sharing network to download and distribute Explicit Images of Minors online, including child rape videos.
Jeffrey Mander, 27, of Bridgeton, was sentenced to six years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Robert G. Malestein in Cumberland County.
He pleaded guilty on Sept. 28 to 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 under the law. Deputy Attorney General Lilianne Daniel prosecuted Mander and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.
In pleading guilty, Mander admitted that prior to his arrest on Oct. 1, 2013, 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 laptop computer.
The investigating agencies executed a search warrant at Mander’s home, seizing two cell phones and a laptop computer. A forensic examination of the laptop computer at the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in Hamilton revealed 289 videos of Explicit Images of Minors located in Mander’s shared folder. The videos showed the rape and sexual abuse of children of both genders, ranging in age from young teens down to toddlers.
During Operation Predator Alert, special agents of HSI monitored an online file-sharing network that is popular with offenders who download and trade Explicit Images of Minors. Using advanced technology, the agents searched for telltale digital “fingerprints” of known Explicit Images of Minors, as well as search terms used by those who download and share Explicit Images of Minors. Through these and other methods, they identified New Jersey residents who were downloading Explicit Images of Minors and making Explicit Images of Minors available to others in “shared folders” on their computers.
The files included videos showing pre-pubescent boys and girls being raped or being coerced into performing sexual acts on themselves or others. The Division of Criminal Justice obtained arrest warrants, which they executed with HSI and numerous other law enforcement agencies.
Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice 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 via the Internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children – to please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 888-648-6007.