NEWARK, N.J. - A Watchung, New Jersey, man today admitted producing and transporting sexually explicit videos of children, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Patrick T. Deck, 54, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to an information charging him with two counts of transportation of child pornography.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Aug. 12, 2012, Deck was arrested at the Land of Make Believe amusement park in Hope, New Jersey, by the N.J. State Police for allegedly filming children, without their or their parents’ knowledge, in the men’s restroom. The following day, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Deck’s home in Watchung and discovered multiple videos and images containing child sexual abuse on Deck’s computers and other electronic devices.
Deck also admitted that between 1997 and 2010, he transported two minors, beginning when they were approximately 11 years old, to locations across the country, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Montana for the purpose of filming the minors in sexually explicit conduct. Deck produced the videos and images of child pornography and then transported those images back to his home in Watchung.
In 1988, Deck was convicted in N.J. Superior Court, Burlington County, of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Those convictions arose out of prior incidents where Deck photographed or filmed minors engaged in prohibited sexual acts. As a result of Deck’s prior convictions, each count of transportation of child pornography to which Deck pleaded guilty carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 40 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is currently scheduled for Jan. 12, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees in Newark, the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Rick Fuentes, and the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Richard T. Burke, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco J. Navarro of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.
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Defense counsel: James Wronko Esq., Somerville, New Jersey
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
