Morris Co. Man Had Child Porn Stored On File-Sharing Software, Gets Prison Time

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A Morris County man was sentenced last week after storing child pornography on a file-sharing software, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office announced.

Jose A. Lousa, 62, of Mount Olive, was sentenced on Friday after he’d pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) in May.

Lousa’s initial trial resulted in a hung jury on April 30. He was originally charged with maintaining a peer-to-peer file sharing program of CSAM and endangering the welfare of a child, but his charges were knocked down to one count of possession of CSAM, leading to his guilty plea on May 12.

See Related: 1000+ Child Porn Images Found In Morris County Home: Prosecutor

In December 2023, an investigation into Lousa by local and federal authorities found him to be in possession of more than 1,000 downloadable child porn files.

The files were found on a BitTorrent network, a peer-to-peer file-sharing software, associated with Lousa’s address. BitTorrent allows peer-to-peer file sharing, breaking down large files into smaller pieces and distributing them to several recipients.

Lousa was sentenced to four years in state prison. He will be required to register as a registered sex offender and will be subject to parole for life once he is released.