Cops: “Repeat Offender” Admits To Owning Child Porn

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  BRICK – A township man admitted to having images and videos of child sexual abuse for the second time in three years, police said.

  Andrew Ramey, 34, of Brick, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. His home had been searched in 2020. Thousands of images and videos were found on his phones.

  The investigation revealed that from March 13, 2020 through June 8, 2020, Ramey downloaded and shared these materials via the BitTorrent Network, a publicly available online peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network of linked computers.

  In a prior federal prosecution in 2018, Ramey was convicted of one count of possession of child pornography in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

  For a repeat offender, the possession charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, along with a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for April 12, 2022.

  Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Atlantic City, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina in Newark; detectives of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer; the Brick Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Riccio; and the Mount Laurel Police Department, under the direction of Chief Stephen Riedener, with the investigation.