A Union Township man has been arrested and charged with being in possession of hundreds of images and videos depicting incidents of child pornography, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Friday.
Jadir Souza, 51, is charged with second-degree maintaining child pornography using a file-sharing program and third-degree possession of child pornography, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Barnes, who is prosecuting the case.
An investigation referred to the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Unit by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations revealed that Souza allegedly used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to view child pornography on his home computer, with the material in question constituting at least 200 video files and 400 images, Barnes said.
Bail for Souza was set at $100,000, with a first appearance in the case tentatively scheduled for the morning of Monday, November 28.
Anyone with additional information about Souza’s activities is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Detective Kalebota at 908-527-4567.
Convictions on second-degree criminal offenses are commonly punishable by 5 to 10 years in state prison, while third-degree crimes typically result in terms of 3 to 5 years.
These criminal charges are mere accusations. Each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.