Former Hudson County Teacher Pleads Guilty to Distributing Images of Child Sexual Abuse Over the Internet
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 24, 2013 |
TRENTON, NJ—A former substitute teacher at a private school in Jersey City, New Jersey, today admitted to distributing images of child sexual abuse over the Internet, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Guy West, 45, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography. West was working as a permanent substitute teacher who regularly taught and supervised children between the ages of 2 and 14 at the time of his January 2013 arrest.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made during West’s guilty plea proceeding:
West admitted that on December 18, 2012, he made images and videos of child pornography available that were stored on his home computer for others to download via a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. On that date, an undercover law enforcement agent successfully downloaded 120 images and 24 videos of child sexual abuse from West via the file-sharing network.
As part of his guilty plea, West agreed to forfeit the computers and computer accessories he used to commit the offense.
The count of distributing child pornography to which West pleaded guilty carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for February 4, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI Newark Division’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; officers of the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Robert Cowan; and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonzo Walsman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.
Defense counsel: Nace Naumoski Esq., Roseland, N.J.