Ex-Rutgers Instructor Pleads Guilty in Child Porn Case

A former Rutgers instructor has admitted to using his office computer to share videos of child pornography over the Internet, according to NJ's Attorney General Jeff Chiesa. 

Gavin Swiatek, 49, a biochemistry instructor on Rutgers University's Cook Campus in New Brunswick pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge of distributing child pornography.

By accepting the plea, he admitted using peer-to-peer file sharing technology to create multiple child pornography files available for other users to download from a shared folder located on his university computer. The state will recommend that he is sentenced to 5 years under the plea agreement. Swiatek has agreed to sign a consent order barring him from public employment permanently.

Swiatek was arrested Jan. 10, 2012 at his Hillsborough home. Swiatek's university computer was seized and investigators seized a laptop computer and digital media from his home. A subsequent investigation revealed that Swiatek shared numerous (mostly video) files containing child pornography with others via the internet.

"Not only did this defendant contribute to the cruel exploitation of children by distributing child pornography, he did it using a university computer that was provided to him as an instructor," said Chiesa in a news release. "He betrayed the university's trust, as well as any measure of decency."

"Prison is the appropriate sentence for those who distribute child pornography," said Director Stephen J. Taylor of the Division of Criminal Justice. "We have the technology to detect this type of file-sharing activity on the Internet, and we will continue to work aggressively with the New Jersey State Police to track down such offenders and put them behind bars."

If you have information about the distribution of child pornography on the Internet or suspect improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the Internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children, please contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Tipline at 1-888-648-6007.