Registered sex offender charged with using law firm computer to distribute child porn
A registered sex offender working as a paralegal at an unidentified law firm in Paterson, N.J., has been criminally charged, accused of using his law firm computer to distribute child pornography.
Kevin Rease, 32, was denied bond at a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Newark, after the government argued and the judge agreed that no conditions, outside of jail, could adequately protect the public, reports the Star-Ledger.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Hammer also noted at the hearing that Rease allegedly threatened to commit suicide earlier this week, at work, and for that reason also needs to be in a custodial situation, the newspaper said.
A search warrant executed at the law office Tuesday resulted in the seizure of digital images that allegedly showed child sexual abuse involving prepubescent minors.
Because he has previously been convicted of a similar offense, Rease faces a 15- to 40-year prison term if he is convicted of the current charge he faces, of distributing images of child sex abuse, authorities say.
An undercover FBI agent obtained child pornography images on a peer-to-peer file sharing network last month, leading authorities to the law firm’s computer and Rease, according to the Associated Press and the Star-Ledger.
The Express-Times and the Record also have stories.
