Crime & Safety

Mercer County Man Sentenced To Prison For Displaying Child Sex Abuse Images

A Mercer County man was sentenced Tueaday to 210 months in prison for producing images of child sexual abuse by coercing a minor victim to stream explicit content to him over the Internet, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Fredy Arbito, 31, of Hightstown previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp to an information charging him with one count of production of child pornography.

Judge Shipp also imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

During his guilty plea proceeding, Arbito admitted that between July 2011 and January 2013, he made contact with a young girl over a video chat messaging system and coerced her to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of transmitting it live over the Internet. Arbito also admitted keeping copies of the video on his own computer.

Arbito was initially charged with possession of child pornography, apprehended by local authorities in Panama and returned to the United States where he was arrested by special agents of Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in April of 2013.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Shipp also sentenced Arbito to serve a lifetime of supervised release. Arbito is also required to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Fishman praised special agents of the HSI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees, with the investigation.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.