Guilty plea, sentencing in Gloucester County child-porn cases

Two Gloucester County men appeared in federal court in Camden on child-pornography charges Friday. One was sentenced for advertising images, the other pleaded guilty to possession.

Robert J. Paratore, 47, of East Greenwich, who also had been convicted of possessing child pornography in 2000, received a 20-year term after his recent guilty plea to advertising material for others to download over the Internet.

Officials said the images included videos of infants being sexually assaulted.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle under a plea agreement that requires him to disclose to law enforcement officials information about eight victims he personally sexually abused. That investigation is under way.

As early as May 2009, when Paratore was chief financial officer of Akers Biosciences Inc. in Thorofare, he used his work computer to download files that contained child pornography, according to officials.

He advertised his 76-gigabyte collection and distributed the images to others using peer-to-peer file sharing.

Law enforcement officials who executed a search warrant at Paratore's workplace recovered more than 100 CDs or DVDs of the material in his truck outside, authorities said.

Paratore also was sentenced to lifetime supervision after his release from prison.

Pleading guilty Friday was Stephen Silver, 60, of Clayton, who acknowledged possessing from 300 to 600 images of child pornography on a computer at his home, the office of U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statement.

Silver faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced May 11. He must register as sex offender after serving his sentence.