Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Last updated: Wednesday May 13, 2009, 7:08 AM
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
HILLSDALE — A 66-year-old borough man was arrested Tuesday on federal charges stemming from an FBI undercover investigation into the production and distribution of child pornography.
FBI agents arrested Thomas Elgert at his Parkview Drive home around 8 a.m., authorities said. The arrest capped a two-month probe in which online undercover agents and police officers based in Helena, Mont., assumed the identities and screen names of known child porn traders already in custody, authorities said.
While posing as "peepingpapa69," an FBI agent was contacted in March by Elgert, using the Yahoo screen name "tregel58" and requesting that he be sent pictures of a young girl named Sonya, according to a criminal complaint.
When the agent responded that a virus had wiped out his computer, Elgert suggested that peepingpapa69 could make another video of Sonya.
A month later, tregle58 sent the agent 153 image files, with at least nine showing children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the complaint said. He also e-mailed six pictures of a naked man to be shown to Sonya, which he said were of him, authorities said.
Handcuffed and in leg-irons, the T-shirt clad defendant, a self-employed consultant for an engineering company, appeared briefly before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Shipp in Newark. He was ordered detained pending a bail hearing Friday.
The complaint charged Elgert with two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of children, which carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison, and four counts of distribution of child pornography, a minimum five-year offense.
His lawyer, Donald M. Nemcik, declined comment.
Elgert worked for United Water from 1979 through December 2000, when he retired as manager of Engineering, Design and Construction, according to United Water.
His wife, Katherine, is the welfare director in Hillsdale and the social services director in Westwood.
In one ruse allegedly triggered by Elgert's queries, the undercover agent assumed the identity of a single mother who supposedly had photographed her two pre-teen daughters at the behest of "bgk_1969" — another child porn trader whose identity was co-opted by authorities after his arrest.
During a chat on April 15, the complaint alleges, Elgert sent child porn pictures to the presumed mother, suggesting that she take pictures of her daughters in the same sexual poses. He followed that with explicit instructions for the girls, the complaint said.
In an April 24 chat with an undercover Helena Police detective, Elgert allegedly described how he had sexually molested a female relative years ago, the complaint said. Elgert also shared three video files, at least one of which depicted children engaged in sex acts, authorities said.
The complaint said Elgert wanted to have sex with the undercover officer's supposed children, ages 8 and 10, and talked about having a dog participate in the sex acts.
"To go as far as directing other parents — people whom Elgert has never met — to abuse their own children in specific ways for his own gratification demonstrates an evil within Mr. Elgert that is pervasive and frightening," Weysan Dun, head of the FBI's Newark Field Office, said in a news release. "The criminal complaint quoted statements allegedly made by Mr. Elgert that are truly disgusting."
Staff Writer Denisa R. Superville contributed to this article. E-mail:
sampson@northjersey.comhttp://www.northjersey.com/news/crimeandcourts/Man_66_faces_child_porn_charges.html
