New Jersey

Ex-Owner of Gymnastics School in New Jersey Indicted for Child Porn

What to Know

  • The former owner of a gymnastics school in New Jersey was indicted for possession of child pornography, officials announced
  • Ronald Charles, 53, of Freehold Township, who previously owned the now-defunct Galaxy Gymnastics, was arraigned Tuesday in Monmouth County
  • Charles’ attorney, Eric Nelson, says his client denies the charge against him and will "vigorously" fight to clear his name

The former owner of a gymnastics school in New Jersey was indicted for possession of child pornography, officials announced.

Ronald Charles, 53, of Freehold Township, who previously owned the now-defunct Galaxy Gymnastics school, was arraigned Tuesday in Monmouth County and was charged with endangering the welfare of a child for possession of child pornography.

He faces up to five years in state prison.

Charles was arrested in December 2015 after the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Regional Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alleging that Charles attempted to send multiple images of child pornography via his personal email address. A subsequent search warrant was issued and lead to the seizure of Charles’ home office computer. According to authorities, after Charles was arrested an examination of his computer allegedly revealed various images of child pornography.

Following his arrest, Charles was released after posting $40,000 bail. As a condition of his bail, he is prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with any minors and barred him from using the internet.

Charles’ attorney, Eric Nelson, says his client denies the charge against him and will "vigorously" fight to clear his name.

Charles is due back in court on June 11 in Monmouth County, according to Nelson.

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