Juvenile Detention Officer Who Lives In Lacey Charged With Distributing Child Pornography: US Attorney's Office Says

A Forked River man who works as a corrections officer at an unnamed juvenile detention facility has been charged with distributing child pornography, including images and videos of child sexual abuse, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick said.

Michael A. Ruggiero, 35, was arrested at work today by Department of Homeland Security agents and Homeland Security Investigations and charged with one count of distribution of child pornography. He is expected to appear in Trenton federal court later today.

The investigation began after Canadian law enforcement officials were contacted by Saskatchewan police about images they found on a cell phone belonging to a man they had arrested for parole violations, authorities said.

The distributed images were eventually traced back to Ruggiero, who used a mobile chat application to distribute and share images of children engaged in sexual acts on the Internet between April 16, 2016 and April 19, 2016, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Authorities found 10 images and two videos had been distributed, apparently from a Bayville address and distributed from a mobile phone traced back to Ruggiero, according to the release.

Anyone with information regarding possible victims of this activity is urged to contact HSI in
Newark: (973)-776-5500.

Ruggiero faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison with a $250,000 fine.

Members of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office assisted with the investigation.

Image: Patch file photo.