Pennsville, NJ man gets four years in prison for child porn plea

PENNSVILLE — A township resident who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography will spend the next 48 months in prison and will subsequently be subject to 10 years' supervised release, according to a sentence announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Camden.

Rickie Wayne Patton, 43, had previously pleaded guilty to a single count of possession, a Wednesday release said.

The investigation that culminated in Patton's arrest began in February 2020, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, when an FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force officer pinged an IP address sharing suspected child sex abuse material over a peer-to-peer network.

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For the next month, according to authorities, the agent downloaded video files containing the illicit material from a computer associated with that address, which was then traced to Patton's Pennsville home.

A search warrant executed on May 19, 2020 yielded laptops and other digital media storage which Patton admitted were his, and was aware that they contained child pornography.

The U.S. Attorney's Office credited the Pennsville Police Department and the Salem County Prosecutor's Office with assisting in the investigation.

Patrick Lavery is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com

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