Joseph Cooper, 76, of Williamstown Sentenced to 10-Year Prison Term For Possessing Child Pornography; Also Ordered to Pay $73,000 in Restitution

On May 2, 2023, a Gloucester County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $73,000 in restitution for possessing images and videos of child sexual abuse.

Joseph Cooper, 76, of Williamstown, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb on Sept. 13, 2022, to an information charging him with one count of possession of child pornography.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

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, including depictions of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The computers also contained logs documenting Cooper’s participation in internet chatrooms relating to sexual interest in children.

Because Cooper previously had been convicted of interstate transport of child pornography by computer and cruelty and neglect of a child, the charge of possession of child pornography depicting prepubescent children carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and he also faced a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard W. Reinhold, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Friedman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Camden.