Crime & Safety

Springfield Man Arrested in Child Porn Bust Was Former Fire Captain

Frank Fiorelli, 61, was charged with possessing and distributing child pornography.

The Springfield Fire Department has confirmed that the man arrested in Wednesday's child pornography bust by the Attorney General was a retired Springfield fire captain. Frank Fiorelli, 61, was among 25 men charged in a State Police investigation into the possession and distribution of child pornography, including child rape videos.

"The Township of Springfield is aware of the current criminal allegations levied against former Springfield Fire Department employee Frank Fiorelli, who retired in 2012," said Springfield Fire Chief James Sanford in a press release today. "The Township fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies regarding this matter, but is precluded by law from providing specific comments on matters involving current and/or former personnel."

Springfielder.com reported on the police activity at Fiorelli's home on Springfield Avenue last week, before the charges against him were announced yesterday, and noted the following: "Public records show Fiorelli submitted retirement from the Springfield Fire Department Aug. 21, 2012...His resignation was accepted unceremoniously by the Springfield Township Committee on Aug. 28, 2012 after a “Closed Session” meeting which listed “Fire Capt. Frank Fiorelli” as a matter of discussion. The nature of the discussion is not known but sources revealed that Fiorelli was denied access to the firehouse in the middle of August. It is not clear whether the arrest is related to his resignation. Fiorelli was promoted to Captain on Nov. 10, 2008 under former Mayor Bart Fraenkel."

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Here, the full release from the State Attorney General:

Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa today announced the arrests of 24 men and one male juvenile in the latest operation aimed at the possession and distribution of child pornography, including child rape videos.  Flanked by Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the State Police, and Deputy Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice, the Attorney General outlined the results of the collaborative effort dubbed Operation Ever Vigilant.

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The Digital Technology Investigations Unit of the State Police began the investigation approximately three months ago by searching for New Jersey residents who were making child pornography, including child rape videos, available to others.  These files show pre-pubescent boys and girls being sexually molested by being penetrated, or by being coerced into performing sexual acts on themselves, or others. 

Working with law enforcement partners in the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, multi-agency teams swept across New Jersey between Feb. 18th and 22nd to make the majority of the arrests.  The charged defendants come from all walks of life, but each was found to be in possession of multiple sexually explicit videos of young children, which they had made available to others. 

 “Anyone who views and distributes child pornography – particularly the type of child rape videos targeted in this operation – puts himself in league with the predators who sexually assault children to create these videos,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “The children they watch being tortured are violated again by their actions, and these offenders may pose a danger to other children because of their predilections.  We will remain ever vigilant to stop this predatory behavior against children.”

“Everyone sitting in the seclusion of their darkened homes viewing child rape videos has victimized these innocents by creating the market for this disgusting material.  There’s no room for them to say, ‘I haven’t hurt anyone,’” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.  “With our partners, we will continue to uncover this behavior, and arrest all those involved.”

“This type of crime – committed against children, who obviously cannot defend themselves – commands forceful action from law enforcement,” said Elie Honig, Deputy Director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “The Division of Criminal Justice will continue to work with the State Police to arrest offenders who are involved in this exploitation, and to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”

The charges stemming from Operation Ever Vigilant will be prosecuted by the Division of Criminal Justice.

Five of those arrested had direct contact with young children, including two defendants who are alleged to be regular babysitters.  Another defendant is a registered sex offender. Stephen Rainone, of South Amboy, is listed on the state’s sex offender Internet registry as a Tier 2 offender for sexual assault of girls under 13 years of age.  Defendant Brent Ailiff of West Berlin remains in jail on $100,000 cash bail.  A field preview of Ailiff’s digital storage media revealed hundreds of child pornography files.  Four of those arrested remain incarcerated on detainers for being in the country without legal status.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents assisted in the processing of these subjects.

These videos and images are passed back and forth among users through emails and by way of file sharing networks.  The networks operate the same way as websites used for privately sharing music or movies.  Those in possession of the illegal images often make them available on computers that they control for others to download.  Because many of these videos and photos keep recirculating, they make perpetual victims of the children abused in the production of child pornography.

In addition to videos involving child abuse, detectives also discovered disturbing sexually explicit videos portraying necrophilia and bestiality during the searches.

Operation Ever Vigilant seamlessly integrated more than 50 troopers, agents, detectives and officers from dozens of law enforcement agencies.  The task force executed a total of 25 search warrants in 25 different towns across the state.  All of the warrant entries were made by the NJSP T.E.A.M.S. Unit, which is a tactical operations group similar to SWAT.  The affiant for the search and arrest warrants was Detective Chris Camm of the State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit.

The Evidence Management Unit helped catalog the large amount of mostly computer-related evidence.  All of the investigations are still considered ongoing since computer media seized as evidence have been turned over to the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory (RCFL) for a thorough examination.  This lab, located in the Technical Center in Hamilton, is a partnership with the FBI and is staffed with personnel from several different agencies including the NJSP.  The RCFL works on computer evidence from New Jersey and surrounding states.

The agencies participating in Operation Ever Vigilant are:

County Prosecutor’s Offices

            Bergen

            Burlington

            Camden

            Cumberland

            Gloucester

            Mercer

            Middlesex

            Monmouth

            Morris

            Ocean

            Passaic

Somerset (and Sheriff’s Office)

State agencies

            State Police

            Division of Criminal Justice

            Parole Board

Local agencies

            West Long Branch PD

            Voorhees PD

            Woodbridge PD

            And local police departments from the towns in which the defendants reside

The U.S. Postal Service also provided valuable support in this operation.

Below is a list of those arrested during Operation Ever Vigilant.  Each was charged with 2nd Degree Distribution of Child Pornography and 4th Degree Possession of Child Pornography:

Stephen Rainone, 27, South Amboy, Middlesex County

Louis Cedeno, 46, Palisades Park, Bergen County

David Laidlaw, 36, Hillsdale, Bergen County

Ernest Okhtenberg, 39, Fair Lawn, Bergen County

Michael Suscreba, 66, Clifton, Passaic County

Nil Choudhury, 23, Margate City, Atlantic County

James Engle, 28, Budd Lake, Morris, County

Albert Femiano, 30, Clark, Union County

Frank Fiorelli, 61, Springfield, Union County

Joseph Lorz, 26, Bergenfield, Bergen County

Jose Oswaldo, 39, Fairview, Bergen County

Alfred Bakewell, 64, Sicklerville, Camden County

Moses Garcia, 25, Perth Amboy, Middlesex County

Jose Holguin, 59, Fords, Middlesex County

Alexander Ramirez, 36, North Plainfield, Somerset County

Brent Ailiff, 38, West Berlin, Camden County

Steven Anan, 52, Neptune City, Monmouth County

Ryan Bronchella, 34, Clementon, Camden County

Christopher Brondi, 57, Rumson, Monmouth County

Manuel Sanchez-Olivarez, 37, Red Bank, Monmouth County

Duane Bell, 43, Lawrence, Mercer County

Giovanni Jimenez, 37, Trenton, Mercer County

William Payton II, 20, Mount Holly, Burlington County

Frank Sysk II, 19, Browns Mills, Burlington County

Male juvenile, 17, Cherry Hill, Camden County

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Because the charges are indictable offenses, they will be presented to a state grand jury for potential indictment.


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