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William Mickel was employed by the Boy Scouts of America in Morris County when he trafficked videos and still images of child sex abuse via email, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Mickel had hundreds of files stored on electronic devices in his Lake Hopatcong home, some of which "depicted children who were surreptitiously recorded using bathrooms in the Boy Scout camps where Mickel worked," Sellinger said.
Local authorities originally arrested Mickel before the FBI assumed jurisdiction and gathered evidence that led to an indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Newark.
Mickel took a deal from the government rather than risk the potential outcome of a trial, Sellinger said.He pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton on Thursday, May 30, to possessing and sharing child pornography, the U.S. attorney said.
U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner scheduled sentencing for Oct. 3.
Sellinger, meanwhile, credited special agents of the FBI with making the case with assistance from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office and the Chester Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fatime Meka Cano of his Economic Crimes Unit in Newark secured the indictment and plea.
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