CAMDEN—A Passaic County, New Jersey man
was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for downloading images of young
children engaged in sexual activity and posed in a sexually explicit manner,
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Gilbert Seidel, 48, of Hawthorne,
previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas to an
information charging him with one count of possession of child pornography.
Judge Irenas imposed sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this
case and statements in court:
Seidel admitted to possessing videos of
child pornography that he had downloaded from the Internet, acknowledging he
had videos he knew depicted prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The files were downloaded using a peer-to-peer file sharing program. A search
of Seidel’s residence by law enforcement uncovered hundreds of child
pornography files, including videos of a young girl and a toddler being
sexually assaulted. As part of his guilty plea, Seidel agreed to forfeit the
computers and computer accessories he used to commit the offense.
Seidel was previously charged by the
Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office for related conduct—pursuant to an
investigation by Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and the Hawthorne Police
Department Detective Bureau—before the possession case was referred for federal
prosecution.
In addition to the prison term, Judge
Irenas sentenced Seidel to five years of supervised release and ordered him to
pay $3,000 in restitution. Seidel’s bail was revoked, and he was ordered
detained on May 7, 2012 for violating the condition that he not possess
connected devices. He is also required to register as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special
agents of the FBI Newark Division’s Cyber Crime Task Force, under the direction
of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, with the investigation leading to
today’s sentence. He also thanked the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office,
Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, and Hawthorne Detective Bureau for their
invaluable work.
The government is represented by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane H. Yoon of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal
Division in Newark.
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