ICE Involved In Ocean City Child Porn Raid, Activists Say

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Multiple electronic devices have been seized from an Ocean City apartment as part of an investigation into the downloading and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday. Authorities did not say if anyone was charged regarding this, but a local activist group said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was involved and detained someone unrelated to the case.

A search warrant was conducted on July 29 at an apartment on the 800 block of Asbury Avenue by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Ocean City Police Department, according to Prosecutor Jeffrey T. Sutherland and Ocean City Police Chief William Campbell.

The warrant was obtained following a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Cyber-Tip that found an unidentified person or persons downloaded and shared various images of CSAM, authorities said.

As a result, multiple devices including cell phones, laptop computers and camcorders were seized from the residence, authorities said.

Immigrant activist group El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City shared in a social media post that ICE agents were also involved.

The post, which is in Spanish, says that ICE agents arrived to the search with a warrant related to an entirely different case, not connected to the person who was ultimately detained.

ICE officers questioned each person present about their immigration status, El Pueblo Unido said. The group also claimed that the agents took photos of each person inside of the house.

A person was detained, El Pueblo Unido said, but their identity was not disclosed. El Pueblo Unido said that person had no connection to the filed court order. Instead, this person was detained for a civil migration incident and had no criminal record, according to El Pueblo Unido.

Sutherland said that he would share updates at a later date or as more information becomes available.

Sutherland said that his agency takes child exploitation very seriously and urges Cape May County residents to report any information regarding child exploitation within the community. Information can be reported to the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-465- 1135, or anonymously on the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office website at cmcpo.tips.