Former Morris Co. Substitute Gets 10-Year Sentence For Child Porn

MANCHESTER, NJ — A registered sex offender who previously worked as a substitute teacher in Morris County has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing child pornography, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced Monday.

Lawrence Fascia, 65, from Manchester Township, was sentenced last Thursday by Superior Court Judge Michael T. Collins. In addition to the 10-year jail sentence, Fascia was sentenced to five years of parole ineligibility.

Fascia is a Tier II registered sex offender in the New Jersey State Police sex offender database. He was convicted in Sussex County in 2003 of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and accessed his victims using the internet, according to the database.

The prosecutor's office said those convictions were for distribution of child pornography and for filming/photographing a child/reproduction of child pornography. That prior conviction resulted in him receiving a mandatory sentence of 10 years, Billhimer said.

Fascia previously worked as a substitute teacher in Mount Olive, Randolph, Montville, Roxbury and Hopatcong, NJ.com reported. He was also an on-call bus driver.

Fascia was arrested in July 2016 after thousands of images of child pornography were found on his computer, authorities said at the time.

The Ocean County High Tech Crimes Unit began investigating in 2016 after the FBI passed along a tip from a technical support person whom Fascia contacted seeking assistance with computer issues. The technician saw "items indicative of child pornography" and a search of Fascia's accounts and home led detectives to locate thousands of images of prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts, as well as emails in which Fascia was trading child pornography with others, the prosecutor's office said.

Reporting By Karen Wall, Patch Staff

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Lawrence Fascia, photo via Ocean County Corrections Department