Former Corrections Officer Admits Distribution Of Child Pornography

TRENTON, N.J. – An Ocean County, New Jersey, man today admitted his role in distributing images and videos of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Michael A. Ruggiero, 37, of Forked River, New Jersey, a former corrections officer, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.

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

From April 16, 2016, to April 19, 2016, Ruggiero used a mobile chat application to distribute and share over the internet images and videos of child sexual abuse. Some of the images and videos were of prepubescent children or children under the age of 12. Ruggiero also admitted that he received over the same mobile chat application other images and videos of child sexual abuse and that he possessed additional depictions of child sexual abuse on his cellular telephone at the time of his arrest in June 2017.

The charge of distributing child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 3, 2019.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian A. Michael; inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Postal Inspector in Charge Daniel B. Brubaker, Philadelphia Division; and members of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, with the investigation leading to today’s plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa T. Wiygul of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

Defense counsel: Telesforo Del Valle Jr. Esq., New York