Former Midland Park Doggie Day Care Worker Gets 5 Years For Child Porn

WEST MILFORD, N.J. -- A West Milford man who worked for a Midland Park dog daycare and boarding facility was sentenced to five years in federal prison MOnday for trafficking child pornography.

Thomas Bachalis
Photo Credit: *COURTESY: Passaic County Sheriff*

Jerry DeMarco

06/20/2016 3:00 p.m.

Thomas Bachalis, 32, pleaded guilty in March to receiving the images through a peer-to-peer online file sharing network.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and the West Milford Police Department for the arrest and investigation.

Detectives from the sheriff's Internet Crime Task Force arrested Bachalis at his La Rue Road home, assisted by West Milford police, in September 2013. He was working for Camp Bow Wow in Midland Park at the time, Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said at the time.

The investigators "made contact with [Bachalis] and obtained 43 files containing both videos and pictures of child pornography," Berdnik said.

Up to 5,000 additional files were found on hard drives at his home, the sheriff said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney A. Howard of Fishman's Criminal Division handled the case.

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