Saturday, March 10, 2018

Union County, New Jersey, Man Gets Over Eight Years In Prison For Distributing Sexually Explicit Images And Videos Of Children



TRENTON, N.J. – An Elizabeth, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 97 months in prison for using his home computer to distribute sexually explicit videos and images of children, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Thomas J. Leonard, 36, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti to an information charging him with one count of distributing child pornography. Judge Martinotti imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Leonard admitted that he used the online peer-to-peer file sharing program BitTorrent to obtain and distribute images and videos of children engaged in sexual acts.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Martinotti sentenced Leonard to five years of supervised release and fined him $30,000.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, with the investigation. He also thanked the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey State Police, and the N.J. Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Allende of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

Anyone with information regarding possible victims of this activity is urged to contact the FBI in Newark at 973-792-3000.

Defense counsel: Rubin M. Sinins Esq., Springfield, New Jersey

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