Crime & Safety

Old Bridge Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography

The 24-year-old will be required to register from now on as a sex offender.

An Old Bridge man admitted today to distributing images and videos of child pornography over the internet, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced in a press release.

According to the Office of the Attorney General, Jacob Rios, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan in Trenton federal court.

In pleading guilty, Rios admitted to knowingly distributing child pornography between Mar. 3, 2011 and Jul. 11, 2011 using a peer-to-peer network called GigaTribe.

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Rios created accounts on GigaTribe through which he downloaded pictures and videos of child pornography, according to the Office of the Attorney General. He then placed those pictures and videos into the shared directory of his GigaTribe accounts, making them available to other GigaTribe users.

As part of his guilty plea, Rios agreed to forfeit the laptop and hard drives that he used to commit the offense, according to the Office of the Attorney General. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

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The distribution of child pornography count to which Rios pleaded guilty is punishable by a mandatory minimum of five years in prison to a maximum potential sentence of 20 years and a fine of $250,000, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

Sentencing is currently scheduled for Jan. 3, 2013.

Special agents of the FBI's Cyber Crimes Squad, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Ward in Newark, were credited by Fishman for the investigation leading to today's guilty plea, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal of the U.S. Attorney's Office General Crimes Unity in Newark. Rios is represented by Attorney Darren Gelbar of Woodbridge.


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