Margate Man Found Guilty of Child Porn Charges

A 40 year-old Margate man was found guilty Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, on child pornography charges by an Atlantic County jury, following 2-day trial before Judge Donna Taylor, Acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Cary Shill announced.

Robert Ferry was charged on April 19, 2019, following a year long investigation.

The investigation involved a device originating from the IP address coming from his apartment that was sharing child pornography on a BitTorrent file sharing program. On approximately 10 occasions, between March 2018 and March 2019, Ferry’s device shared items with a computer being utilized by the Department of Homeland Security. 

On each of those occasions, pictures and videos of children involved in sexual acts or situations were shared from Ferry’s device with Department of Homeland Security’s undercover computer program.

Ferry was charged with, later indicted on and convicted on the following two counts:

1)      1st degree Distribution of Child Pornography via a file-sharing program in excess of 1000 items

2)      2nd degree Possession of Child Pornography in excess of 1000 items

The 1st degree charge Distribution of Child Pornography via a file-sharing program in excess of 1000 items carries a mandatory 10-year period of parole ineligibility. Sentencing is scheduled in November.

The case was investigated by the ACPO Computer Crimes Unit and the Department of Homeland Security. Assistant Prosecutor Dave Ruffenach represents the state in the matter.

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Anyone with information involving serious crimes is asked to call the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-909-7800 or go to the Prosecutor’s Office Web site at http://www.acpo.org/tips.html and provide information by filling out the form anonymously on the Submit a Tip page.

People can also call Crime Stoppers at 609-652-1234 or 1-800-658-8477(TIPS) or visit the Crime Stoppers Website at http://www.crimestoppersatlantic.com/.

Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those who commit crimes in Atlantic County.