Police: 15-year-old NJ boy had over 900 child sex abuse files, traded on apps
🔶Young teen arrested on child porn allegations
🔶Police say boy had over 900 files
🔶Teen accused of trading files on apps
SECAUCUS — A 15-year-old local boy has been arrested, as Secaucus Police said the teen had a massive collection of child sex abuse files, which he's accused of sharing on multiple apps.
Officers launched an investigation after receiving a tip that several images and videos had been uploaded by a resident of Harmon Cove Towers in Secaucus to Snapchat, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Telegram messaging apps.
Some of these images involved preschool, grade school and teenage children, police said.
As of Wednesday, it was unknown if any of the children were known to the teen who was arrested.
Members of the Secaucus Police Detective Division, joined by State Police and members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit, carried out a search at the teen’s residence, where an electronic device was seized.
The 15-year-old was charged as a juvenile with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
He was also charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for an unrelated incident in which the teen allegedly took and shared a photo of a female who was known to him, exposing her “intimate parts” without her consent.
Read More: Repeat NJ offender admits child sex abuse files, including babies
The teen was being held at Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center. Additional charges may follow, police said.
Harmon Cove Towers has 562 residential units along the Hackensack River.
“This child predator was not only viewing these images/videos, he was trading them with other people, thereby victimizing the children depicted in them over and over again,” Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
He continued, “I said it before and I will say it again, the Secaucus Police Department will continue to hunt child predators, regardless of their age, and bring them to justice. I am extremely proud of my detectives’ ongoing commitment to prevent children from being exploited.”
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