Middlesex Man Who Threw iPad In Bay Sentenced In Child Porn Case

SOUTH RIVER, NJ - A Middlesex County man was sentenced this week to over a decade in state prison for possessing child pornography and later hiding his devices to hinder the FBI’s probe.

Charles F. Browne, 55, of South River, was sentenced in Newark federal court to 15 years in state prison and 10 years of supervised release after he was convicted in June of receiving child pornography, soliciting child pornography, possessing prepubescent child pornography and concealing objects to hinder a federal investigation.

According to court documents and trial evidence, on September 2017, a cloud-based file service noticed child sex abuse material had been uploaded to an account with the screen name “Charles Browne” and an email address containing the term “cbrowne.”

The FBI obtained the files that were uploaded to the online account, which included child pornography and two copies of Browne’s resume. On April 8, 2019, law enforcement stopped Browne’s vehicle as he left his home, according to court documents.

Brown was interviewed by law enforcement about the FBI’s ongoing investigation, and he initially denied having an iPad. In response to the agent’s question asking where his iPad was, Browne responded that it was at home, which was approximately one mile away, according to trial evidence.

Officers told Browne that an online file account contained two images of prepubescent child sexual abuse created by an Apple iPhone Model 5C camera. He denied knowledge of the child pornography and at the end of the interview, dropped off at his vehicle, which was locked, according to court documents.

At trial, Browne confessed that he broke into his vehicle after the FBI interview, removed an iPad and his iPhone, and then walked to a local private beach club. He was seen by a neighbor as he walked to the end of the dock and threw his iPad and iPhone into the bay, according to court documents and trial evidence.

After Browne returned home without the devices, the FBI conducted a canvass of the area and found the neighbor who had seen Browne throwing his iPad into the bay. The FBI sent in a dive team, which recovered Browne’s iPad and iPhone – an Apple Model 5C – from the bay, according to court documents and trial evidence.

The devices were repaired and a review of the data revealed videos and images of child sexual abuse, Sellinger said. Web history from the iPad reflected that Browne had sought images of child sexual abuse on the iPad the day before officers interviewed him. Evidence from Browne’s iPad and iPhone reflected that Browne sent emails to others seeking child pornography “vids,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Sellinger credited the South River Police Department, FBI, Ocean County Law enforcement and other agencies for the investigation that led to Browne’s conviction.