Charges: NJ college student uploaded child porn from dorm

A grand jury has given the green light to criminal charges against a Montclair State University student who allegedly deceived minors online and got them to provide him with sexually explicit videos of themselves.

According to the Attorney General's Office, a grand jury in Trenton returned a 12-count indictment against Edgewater Park resident Keyon Luff.

The 21-year-old was arrested in May as a junior at Montclair State.

According to investigators, Luff created fictitious social media accounts to contact at least three children aged 14 to 16 between January and July 2021. Luff directed them to record themselves engaging in sexual acts and send the lewd videos to him, authorities say.

On one online platform, Luff impersonated an adult female and utilized that false identity to obtain sexual files of others, authorities say.

"The grand jury determined this individual utilized this charade to induce victims to produce footage that would later be shared online without their knowledge or consent," said First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay Ruotolo. "Such material should not exist, let alone circulate. And the manner in which it was allegedly obtained from the victims is not only abhorrent — it illustrates the alleged predatory premeditation that went into these crimes."

Detectives seized numerous digital devices from Luff's room during the execution of a search warrant, officials say.

According to the Attorney General's Office, the investigation began following a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The nonprofit reported that several files depicting suspected child sex abuse had been uploaded to a cloud-based file hosting service. Investigators determined that the IP address used to upload the files was coming from Montclair State.

Charges against Luff include sexual assault, impersonation, possession of child sexual exploitation material, impairing or debauching the morals of a child, and photographing or filming a child in a prohibited sexual act or simulation of such an act.

Luff is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility pending trial.

New Jersey 101.5 has reached out to Luff's attorney for comment.