PHILADELPHIA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Eastern), published as received.

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Javier Perez, 44, of Brookhaven, PA, was convicted at trial of possessing child pornography arising from the recovery of videos of child pornography from his personal computer.

In 2014, the FBI executed a search warrant at Perez’s residence and seized Perez’s desktop computer, which contained several videos of child pornography that he downloaded using an online peer-to-peer network. The defendant was arrested and charged, and the case was tried in 2016 after which the defendant was convicted of possession of child pornography and sentenced to four years in prison. Earlier this year, the defendant’s conviction was vacated pursuant to a petition which found that his previous trial counsel was ineffective. Perez was retried on the possession charge this week, and was once again convicted.

“This verdict sends a strong message that those who victimize our most vulnerable will be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Thank you to the prosecutors and agency partners who remained determined to identify, prosecute and convict this defendant.”

“Those who seek out images of child sexual abuse help drive a demand for such depraved material, resulting in the continued exploitation of young children,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division. “This conviction holds Javier Perez accountable for his actions and underscores the solid work of the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, committed to its mission of protecting vulnerable children from harm.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Veronica J. Finkelstein.