Long Branch man accused of digital child porn distribution

A suspected child pornography peddler from Long Branch faces up to 20 years in prison for each of two counts of distribution, if convicted at trial.

Donald Haring, 60, was arrested Wednesday by federal agents, according to the office of New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. He is also charged with one count of possession, which carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years. Each of the three counts carries potential fines as high as $250,000.

Haring is accused of storing more than 4,600 still images and 75 moving images of sexual abuse against children, which agents in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said they found during a raid in his house in December 2014.

The probe began in June 2014, when an undercover agent downloaded degrading images from Haring's computer through a file-sharing network, authorities said. Haring allegedly was sharing more than 100 files at the time.

Investigators said that in October 2014, Haring enrolled in an online child porn forum that was covertly run by DHS and presented as exclusive, secure and restricted to members only. Entrants were instructed to upload images.

Haring allegedly uploaded eight images of child sex abuse to meet the requirements, using the same IP address that investigators detected the previous June.