East Hanover Man Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

NEWARK, NJ—An East Hanover, N.J., man was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison today for possessing child pornography, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Cristopher Chadderton, 24, previously pled guilty to an Information charging him with possessing child pornography. He entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls, who also imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Chadderton admitted that from June 26, 2008, to Nov. 4, 2008, he possessed about 150 images of child pornography that he downloaded using his two computers. Law enforcement officers seized the computers from his residence on Nov. 4, 2008, that contained numerous images of child pornography. The images found on the computers included multiple depictions of prepubescent children engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including minors under the age of 12. Chadderton admitted that he had been collecting child pornography via peer-to-peer file sharing software.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Walls ordered Chadderton to serve five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine. As part of the plea agreement, he agreed to forfeit his computers, hard drives, and other electronic storage media he used to commit the offense.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, for the investigation of the case, and thanked the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory for providing valuable assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Cook of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division.

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Defense counsel: Peter Carter, Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark