Man Arrested for Maintaining Peer-to-Peer Child Pornography Network
Published on December 15, 2023
Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, Morris County Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, Mount Olive Township Police Chief Michael Spitzer, and Boonton Township Police Chief Thomas Cacciabeve announce the arrest of Jose A. Lousa, age 60, of Mount Olive Township, in connection with maintaining a peer-to-peer child abuse network, and possession of child sex abuse material.
The defendant has been charged with one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Maintaining a Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Program of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM)), a first degree offense; and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Possession of CSAM), a second degree offense.
The investigation began when the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations Newark – Child Exploitation Group identified possible CSAM on a BitTorrent site in Morris County. BitTorrent is a Peer-to-Peer file sharing network.
Further investigation revealed numerous media files, each depicting the alleged sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor, were stored on the BitTorrent site. The investigation further revealed that these files were accessible for download. It is alleged the BitTorrent was associated with the defendant’s residence. Further investigation revealed in excess of 1,000 items of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) were available for download from the BitTorrent site.
Defendant was arrested on the above charges on December 7, 2023. Following his arrest, he was detained in the Morris County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing. Following a detention hearing on December 13, 2023, the defendant was released on Pretrial Monitoring Level three. Additional conditions of his release include that the defendant is to have no internet access and no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Prosecutor Carroll would like to acknowledge the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations Newark – Child Exploitation Group, the New Jersey State Police, Mount Olive Township Police Department, Boonton Township Police Department and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for their efforts in this investigation.
If anyone has any information related to this investigation, they are encouraged to call the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of the Sex Crimes / Child Endangerment Unit of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-285-6200.
A criminal complaint is merely an accusation. Despite these accusations, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Media inquiries concerning this press release should be directed to Public Information Officer Meghan Knab at [email protected].