After Child Porn Confession, Former Teacher From Morris Sentenced To Prison

WHARTON, NJ — A Morris County resident and former teacher has been sentenced to seven years in prison after admitting to federal child pornography charges.

In August, Angelo Girimonte pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. The 53-year-old was most recently an Italian teacher in the Kearny School District, and was placed on leave after being arrested in 2022.

Girimonte had taught students at the elementary school level and was a staff member at the Kearny School District for more than 15 years, as Patch reported previously.

Police found more than 100 images and videos of young children being sexually abused on Girimonte's cell phone, officials said previously. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Girimonte's sentencing on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

According to police, the 53-year-old distributed material containing images and video files of child sexual abuse between Dec. 27, 2021, and Jan. 17, 2022, via a publicly accessible online peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network of linked computers.

The U.S. Attorney's Office explained users must download the P2P program, which is widely available for free on the Internet. The program allows the user to place files into a designated "shared" folder on his or her hard drive, from which other P2P program users can then download those files directly to the "shared" folders of their own computers.

Users can then browse, search, select, and directly download, those files. The program typically keeps a log of each downloaded event.

Law enforcement officers conducted undercover online sessions to gain access to the P2P program, and during these sessions, a user shared multiple video files of pre-pubescent children being sexually abused by adults from an internet address traced to Girimonte's residence.

Girimonte was arrested on Mar. 4, 2022 after officials filed a a criminal complaint, and he agreed to detention.