Former Edison Little League Coach Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

NEWARK, NJ—A former Edison, N.J. Little League coach was sentenced today to 37 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Everett Abney, 43, of Edison, previously pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to an information charging him with possessing the criminal images. Judge Chesler also imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

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

Abney was a coach for Edison’s Midtown National Little League at the time federal agents interviewed him at his home on February 4, 2009. During a review of Abney’s computer subsequent to the interview, law enforcement officers found several hundred images of child pornography, including multiple depictions of prepubescent minors.

At his plea, Abney admitted that for approximately a year-and-a-half, he regularly searched the Internet for images of child pornography, using sexually suggestive terms such as “pedo,” “teen,” and “youngteen,” to find the images. He downloaded the images from the Internet or through file-sharing software and saved them to his computer.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Abney to five years of supervised release. Abney will also be required to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Lee Vartan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

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Defense counsel: David Holman, Esq., Federal Public Defender, Newark