Working with tips provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, law enforcement in Cape May County made two recent arrests on charges related to the possession and distribution of child pornography – known currently as child sexual abuse materials.
The prosecutor’s office and Lower Township Police Department arrested Jacob B. Shuman, 21, of Meadowview Road, in Erma, on Monday, Oct. 30, for two counts of endangering the welfare of a child – one for distribution of child pornography and another for possession of child pornography. That same day, the Wildwood Crest Police Department arrested Christopher Myers, 45, of Cardinal Avenue, in Wildwood Crest, on the same charges. The cases are not related.
Search warrants were executed at the individuals’ residences in multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency efforts. Sutherland said members of the Cape May County Regional S.W.A.T. Team, Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office High-Tech Crimes Unit & Internet Crimes Against Children (I.C.A.C.) Task Force, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI – Atlantic City) and Lower Township Police Department executed the search warrant at Shuman’s residence where a number of items of evidence were seized and are pending analysis. Shuman was arrested and lodged at the Cape May County Correctional Facility.
A similar multi-agency team executed a search warrant on Myers’ residence in cooperation with the Wildwood Crest Police Department, which resulted in police recovering evidence of child sexual abuse materials.
Sutherland, in his news release issued Oct. 31, said Myers turned himself in to the Wildwood Crest Police Department, Oct. 30, after charges were authorized Tuesday, Oct. 17. Myers was then processed and lodged in the Cape May County Correctional Facility, pending court proceedings.
Both Shuman and Myers were charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child (distribution of child pornography) and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child (possession of child pornography).
Sutherland advised that individuals charged with a second-degree crime are subject to a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years in New Jersey state prison and a third-degree crime is subject to a term of imprisonment of three to five years in New Jersey state prison.
Sutherland announced the arrests in cooperation with Lower Township Police Department Chief Kevin Lewis and Wildwood Crest Police Department Chief Robert Lloyd.
