Newark Man Charged With Additional Counts Of Producing Child Pornography For Recording His Sexual Abuse Of Girl

NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark man was indicted by a federal grand jury today on three additional counts of producing images of child sexual abuse for allegedly abusing a prepubescent girl repeatedly and filming the abuse, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Pedro Rios, 58, was charged in a superseding indictment with a total of five counts of production of child pornography and one count each of possession and distribution of child pornography. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler. An arraignment will be scheduled.

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

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Rios’s home in Newark on Feb. 5, 2013. A forensic review of the computer equipment seized revealed several video files of child pornography which appear to be self-produced and allegedly depict Rios on camera engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a prepubescent female in the rear of a cab of a tractor trailer truck.

Law enforcement officers identified and interviewed the female, who allegedly said Rios would periodically drive her to his tractor trailer truck in Union County, N.J., where he would undress her and have sexual contact and sexual relations with her and record the encounters. Rios allegedly threatened to hurt the victim’s family if she told anyone.

Each charge of sexual exploitation of a child carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Rios remains detained.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI Newark Division’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray, and the N.J. Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory with the investigation leading to these charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonzo Walsman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Defense counsel: Brian J. Neary Esq., Hackensack, N.J.

Rios, Pedro Superseding Indictment