New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that a former Rutgers University instructor was sentenced to state prison for using a computer in his university office to share videos of child pornography over the Internet. The sentence was handed down by Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz on March, 4, 2013.
Gavin Swiatek, 50, a former biochemistry instructor on the Rutgers University Cook Campus in New Brunswick, was sentenced to four years in state prison from his guilty plea back on Dec. 11, 2012, to a second-degree charge of distributing child pornography. In pleading guilty, Swiatek admitted that he used peer-to-peer file sharing technology to make multiple files containing child pornography readily available for any other user to download from a designated “shared folder” on his university computer. The state investigation revealed that he shared numerous files containing child pornography, mostly videos.
“It is shocking that a teacher, someone who is supposed to be motivated to nurture and strengthen young people, would participate in a criminal network that derives gratification from the torture of children and the destruction of their lives,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “Prison is the right sentence for this man and anyone else who joins the depraved network of people who share child pornography online.”
“The Division of Criminal Justice has nearly 50 child pornography cases pending, thanks to our ongoing efforts in partnership with the New Jersey State Police and the other members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We have made it a statewide priority to prosecute defendants whose actions create a constant demand for images of children being sexually assaulted, abused, and, raped.”
Rutgers University fully cooperated with authorities investigating the crime.
Comments