A vice president at an international bank, a public official, an airline mechanic and a courier were among 14 people arrested in a months-long child pornography sweep in New Jersey, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Monmouth County officials said the sting snared one minor and 13 adults from ages 18 to 64, most of whom were accused of uploading and sharing pornographic images of kids on file-sharing and file-storage sites.
The oldest of the suspects, a deli worker at a grocery store, is accused of chatting with and making plans to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old boy.
"Operation Trading Post caught individuals who shamelessly viewed and shared depraved images of children being sexually abused," county prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said in a statement.
All of the defendants, except the one charged with trying to lure the teen boy, were released on condition they not contact minors or use the Internet.
Most of them face up to 10 years in prison, along with lifetime parole supervision and registry in a sex offender database.
