Monmouth County Man Gets 41-Month Prison Sentence for Child Porn Distribution

A Monmouth County man was sentenced to 41 months in prison Monday for using his Blackberry smartphone to distribute images of child sexual abuse, including to a stranger in Nevada, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced in a press release.  

John Nutt, 55, of Asbury Park, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton federal court on Dec. 3 to one count of distribution of child pornography. Judge Pisano imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.  

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, a Nevada woman received an image of child pornography on her cell phone via picture message from a phone number not known to her on April 10, 2011. When she reported this event to Nevada law enforcement, law enforcement officers determined that the phone number belonged to Nutt, and that Nutt lived in Asbury Park, according to the press release. 

On May 19, 2011, officers from the Asbury Park Police Department and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office executed a search warrant at Nutt’s residence and seized his Blackberry smartphone, which federal investigators later determined had been used to distribute and receive child pornography, the press release stated.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, in New Jersey under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees; the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni; the Asbury Park Police Department, under the direction of Chief Mark Kinmon; and the Mineral County, Nev., Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Michael Dillard, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Clabby of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.