Jackson man caught distributing hundreds of child porn images

A Jackson Township man who was allegedly uploading child porn via the Kik Messenger App while at home at and work has been arrested and charged following an investigation.

The New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force spotted what was happening and made referrals to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office whose High Tech Crime Unit followed up and traced the Kik Messenger use to a home in Jackson Township, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer.

Ocean County Prosecutors Office. (Vin Ebenau, Townsquare Media NJ)

From there, investigators said they learned that 42-year-old Joseph D. Tuzzio, Jr. uploaded the images and on October 27, the OCPO-High Tech Crime Unit, U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Investigations Unit and Jackson Police executed a search warrant at the residence and ended up seizing two cell phones and a computer.

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Prosecutor Billhimer said that when the OCPO-HTCU looked the laptop computer, they found more than 500 Child Porn images.

Photo: Shawn Michaels

Detectives followed by issuing a Communication Data Warrant to KIK to see Tuzzio, Jr.'s subscriber account and the team of investigators then saw that it was distributing and receiving child porn videos, and, that the IP address he was using to push out child porn videos was coming from his workplace in Jackson.

Shawn Michaels

Tuzzio Jr. was arrested after surrendering himself to Jackson Police, with his attorney there with him, and was then processed, charged with Possession of Child Pornography and three counts of Distribution of Child Pornography, and brought to the Ocean County Jail, but, then released due to New Jersey's Bail Reform Law.

NJ arrests 31 accused child predators in Operation 24/7

A roundup of 31 men have been accused of sexually exploiting children online, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced on July 14 while detailing "Operation 24/7."

The suspects “possessed and or distributed videos and images of child sexual abuse, including in many cases videos of young children being raped by adults,” Grewal said.

Chat apps and gaming platforms remain favorite hunting grounds for child predators and even as the pandemic winds down, many children have continued to spend more time online.

State Police received 39% more tips in just the first 6 months of 2021 than they received in the entire year in 2019. The following are suspects charged in "Operation 24/7."