Ex-Howell Schools IT Director Caught In Child Porn Bust

HOWELL, NJ - A former IT director and youth band leader at Howell Township Schools was sentenced to five years in state prison in connection to distributing child pornography, authorities said.

Matthew Wolny, 43, of Jackson, was sentenced in May with a five-year period of parole ineligibility regarding a previously entered guilty plea to Distribution of Child Pornography, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced.

Wolny pleaded guilty to the charge on November 26, 2018. Sentencing was delayed due to Wolny being sentenced on related federal charges involving child pornography. He is currently serving a sentence on related charges in a federal correctional facility in Mississippi. His charges in Ocean County will run concurrent with his federal sentence, the county prosecutor said.

Wolny will also be required to register as a Megan’s Law offender upon his release from prison.

According to an investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit and Jackson Township Police Department in 2013, Wolny was found distributing child pornography through a file sharing application on his computer. On September 26, 2013, detectives executed a search warrant on Wolny’s residence, seizing computer equipment belonging to Wolny that contained evidence of child pornography distribution.

During the course of the investigation, authorities also found multiple videos from the YMCA in Toms River where Wolny hid a camera in a bathroom area and videotaped multiple individuals changing and showering. Further investigation revealed that Wolny had videotaped students in Maryland during a class trip; while he was employed with Howell Township Schools.

Prosecutor Billhimer thanked the efforts of Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Kristin Pressman who handled the case, as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, Jackson Township Police Department and United States Department of Homeland Security.