Crime & Safety
Somerset Man Arrested in Child Pornography Bust
"Operation Predator Alert" arrested 14 men throughout New Jersey on charges of child pornography possession.
A Somerset man is one of 14 arrests made in New Jersey in relation to a series of arrests of people who were allegedly downloading or sharing child pornography on their computers.
Huahao “Howard” Chang, 30, of Somerset, has been charged with possession of child pornography and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
He has also been charged with tampering with evidence, after he allegedly threw his computer down a stairwell in an attempt to destroy the hard drive during his arrest on September 30.
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Chang is one of 14 men arrested during "Operation Predator Alert" between Sept. 30 and Oct. 24, the first major child pornography sweep by the Attorney General's Office in which the arrested have been charged under new, stricter child pornography laws in New Jersey, according to a press release from the state Attorney General's office.
Authorities began monitoring an online file-sharing network in June that was heavily trafficked by users downloading and sharing child pornography, according to the release.
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"Each of the arrested defendants allegedly was using Internet file-sharing software to make multiple files containing child pornography readily available for other users to download from a “shared folder” on his computer," the release said.
13 people, including Chang, have been charged with possession of child pornography, and may also be prosecuted for distribution, if investigators find child pornography in shared folders on their computers at the time of their arrests.
One defendant, James Hooker, 66, of Eastampton, has been charged with possession of child pornography under the state's previous statute, as well as second-degree distribution of child pornography.
"If convicted of distributing 25 or more computer files of child pornography under the new law, defendants would face a mandatory state prison sentence of five years without possibility of parole," the release said. "In addition, any defendant found to have possessed 100 or more files of child pornography on his computer, will face a presumptive sentence of three to five years in state prison under the new law."The 14 defendants are as follows:
- Huahao “Howard” Chang, 30, of Somerset.
- Jeffrey M. Mander, 25, of Bridgeton.
- Juan C. Alvarez, 33, of Egg Harbor.
- Mark V. Miller, 66, of Millville.
- Cristian Gonazalez-Araya, 33, of Trenton.
- Juan S. Montoya, 24, of Pennsauken.
- Mitchell Beard, 32, of Lower Township.
- Jackson Beard, 32, of Lower Township.
- James Hooker, 66, Eastampton.
- Francis “Frank” P. Gillice, 63, of Cape May Court House.
- Brian S. Bell, 40, of Woodstown.
- Celalleti “Steve” Koc, 25, of Hamilton (Mercer County).
- Cesar Urena-Valverde, 30, of Trenton.
- Jason Block, 33, of Wrightstown.
"Thus, if a defendant is convicted of possessing 25 or more files of child pornography in a shared folder on his computer after Aug. 14, he would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years without parole," the release said.
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