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Homeland Security agents seized Antonio Del Prado, 61, during an October 2020 raid of his Millburn home after learning that he’d uploaded some of the images to a cloud, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
These included 56 images and 18 videos of child sexual abuse, according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark.
A judge kept Del Prado detained, and investigators learned that he'd “had a woman live-stream a video of a child being sexually assaulted” for him, Sellinger said.
“Further investigation revealed that on multiple occasions, Del Prado sexually assaulted children in the Philippines and transmitted video recordings of those assaults into the United States,” the U.S. attorney said on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
Rather than risk the severe consequences of a guilty verdict at a trial, Del Prado took a deal from the government.
He pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark on Wednesday to one count each of production of child pornography and production of child pornography abroad with intent to transport into the United States.
U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for April 25, 2023.
Sellinger, meanwhile, credited special agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations for the investigation leading to the guilty plea secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Barnes of his Criminal Division in Newark.
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