An Ocean County man has been sentenced to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to child porn charges.

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Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer says 40-year-old Richard Knight of New Egypt was sentenced on Friday to five years behind bars for distribution of child pornography and a concurrent five-year sentence for one count of possession of child pornography.

Knight will also be subject to the terms of Megan’s Law along with Parole Supervision for Life.

This investigation, which began in December 2020 . . . . detected that a user of the program Google Meets was uploading images of child pornography to the internet. An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit identified a residence in New Egypt as the source of the uploaded images of child pornography. On June 9, 2021, Detectives...executed a court-authorized search warrant on Knight’s residence in New Egypt.

Police seized two cell phones which allegedly contained more than 1,000 images of child pornography.

Knight was subsequently arrested at his place of employment in Browns Mills on June 9th. He has been held in the Ocean County Jail since that date.

New Jersey's most disgraceful child predators and accused predators

NJ arrests 31 accused child predators in "Operation 24/7"

A roundup of 31 men have been accused of sexually exploiting children online, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced on July 14 while detailing "Operation 24/7."

The suspects “possessed and or distributed videos and images of child sexual abuse, including in many cases videos of young children being raped by adults,” Grewal said.

Chat apps and gaming platforms remain favorite hunting grounds for child predators and even as the pandemic winds down, many children have continued to spend more time online.

State Police received 39% more tips in just the first 6 months of 2021 than they received in the entire year in 2019. The following are suspects charged in "Operation 24/7."

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