Gloucester County, New Jersey, Man Who Secretly Filmed Girls In His Bathroom Gets 15 Years In Prison

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Williamstown, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for receiving images and videos of child sexual abuse and for producing child pornography using a hidden camera in his bathroom, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Eric Ziegler, 39, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to an information charging him with one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Judge Rodriguez imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

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

Ziegler admitted that from February 2015 through Dec. 3, 2015, he received and possessed multiple images of child sexual abuse over the Internet which he saved to his computer, external hard drives, compact discs and other electronic media located inside his home. Among the content on Ziegler’s devices were images focusing on the genitalia of several girls, which Ziegler admitted producing using a camera hidden in a bathroom at his Williamstown residence.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Rodriguez ordered Ziegler to serve a lifetime of supervised release and pay $215,000 in restitution.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster in Philadelphia, with the investigation. He also thanked the Monroe Township Police Department under the direction of Chief John McKeown for its assistance.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Jason M. Richardson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Defense Attorney: Bruce Warren Esq., Sewell, New Jersey