FREEHOLD – Police want to know if any other residents have witnessed any illegal acts performed by a West Long Branch man who faces a litany of charges for drugs, child porn and lewdness.
Michael K. Russo, 51, was charged with third-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child via Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material, third-degree Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, and fourth-degree Lewdness.
According to police, he was in possession of cocaine, had files containing child sexual abuse on a device, and videotaped himself masturbating in a local park.
The digital files were uploaded to a Google Drive registered to him over the span of nine months in 2019, police said. They were tracked by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit and the Monmouth County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force arrested him and more than a dozen other people as a result of investigations stemming from the National Center’s tips.
While investigating Russo, police said they found the cocaine and the video which took place in Asbury Park on or around July 25, 2019.
Anyone with information about Russo’s activities is being asked to contact MCPO Detective Michael Arduini at 1-800-533-7443.
The Monmouth County ICAC Task Force includes members of the following police departments: Bradley Beach, Eatontown, Howell, Long Branch, Manalapan, Marlboro, Neptune Township, Spring Lake, Tinton Falls, Keyport, Keansburg, Belmar, Holmdel, and Red Bank; the Task Force also receives investigative support from the police departments in Long Branch, Colts Neck, Highlands, Hazlet, Howell, Union Beach, Keansburg, Red Bank, West Long Branch, Ocean Township, Freehold Township, and Freehold Borough, as well as the New Jersey State Police (Hamilton Barracks).
Convictions on charges of this nature are punishable by up to five years in state prison, as well as the defendant being registered under Megan’s Law and assigned parole supervision for life.
Charges are merely accusations until proven in a court of law.
