Edward Lynch, 52 (Photo: Ocean County Jail)
Authorities in Ocean County charged a 53-year-old Toms River man with having more than 1,000 images of child pornography on his computer when they began an investigation following a tip from a federal agency.
A referral from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicated that an individual was downloading images of child pornography from the internet; an investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit identified an IP address associated with a residence in Toms River as the location from which the individual was downloading these images.
Edward Lynch, 52, was ultimately charged with possession of child pornography.
According to a statement from prosecutors, detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office’s High Tech Crime Unit and Toms River police executed a court-authorized search warrant on a township residence Thursday. As a result, the statement said, detectives seized multiple electronic devices from the residence. A forensic examination of the devices by detectives led to the discovery of more than 1,000 images of child pornography. Further investigation revealed that Lynch was the individual allegedly responsible for downloading the images in question.
Lynch was taken into custody at his residence without incident; he was thereafter transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing.
