Bergen County Man Had 31K Nude Or Explicit Photos Of Minors: Prosecutor

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Bergen County man was arrested Monday after investigators determined he had more than 31,000 "items depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent and pubescent children" on his electronic device, prosecutors said.

Benjamin P. Ritter, 23, of Washington Township was charged Monday with second-degree possession of child pornography, said the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said that on Sept. 13, members of their Cyber Crimes identified him as part of an ongoing internet child pornography investigation.

A court-authorized search of an electronic device Ritter owned "revealed that [he] viewed, saved, downloaded, and/or possessed 31,110 items" depicting the abuse, prosecutors said.

He was arrested in Paramus and brought to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, prosecutors said.