NEW EGYPT – A local man was sentenced to five years in prison for sharing child pornography online, with a two-year period of parole ineligibility, police said.
Richard Knight, 40, of New Egypt, will also have to register with Megan’s Law and be on parole supervision for life. Sharing child pornography and possessing it are separate crimes, each with a five-year sentence. However, the sentences are being served at the same time.
In December of 2020, the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force detected that someone was uploading images of child pornography through Google Meets. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit identified the source as a home in New Egypt where Knight lived.
On June 9, 2021, Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, United States Homeland Security Investigations, and Plumsted Township Police Department, executed a search warrant on Knight’s home. They seized two cell phones and they learned that he had saved “more than 1,000 images but less than 100,000 images of child pornography.” They were also able to learn that he distributed images through social media and Google Meets.
He was arrested at his place of employment in Browns Mills on June 9, 2021; he has been in the Ocean County Jail since that date.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer acknowledged the efforts of Senior Assistant Prosecutor Shanon Chant-Berry and Senior Assistant Prosecutor Ashley Angelo who handled the case on behalf of the State, as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, Plumsted Township Police Department, New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and United States Homeland Security Investigations, for their collective and collaborative assistance in connection with this investigation leading to Knight’s arrest, guilty pleas, and now his state prison sentence.
