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Joseph Cooper, 76, of Williamstown had served nearly 3½ years in federal prison on a 1999 child pornography conviction, which was followed by six months in the Gloucester County Jail for a 2011 child cruelty conviction, records show.
Nearly a decade passed before authorities were at his door once again.
“In October 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Cooper’s residence and discovered computers containing more than 50 videos and 200 images of child sexual abuse,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
These included “depictions of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” he said.
“The computers also contained logs documenting Cooper’s participation in internet chatrooms relating to sexual interest in children,” the U.S. attorney added.
Given his history, Cooper was facing what would amount to a life sentence if he were convicted at a trial, under federal guidelines.
Cooper instead pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb in Camden earlier this week, Sellinger said.
Cooper is still looking at a minimum of 10 years, and as many as 20, under federal court guidelines, when Bumb sentences him on Jan. 17, 2023, the U.S. attorney said.
Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations with the investigation leading to Cooper’s plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Friedman of his Criminal Division in Camden.
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