Former RU Student Gets Three Years for Child Pornography Distribution

A former Rutgers student was sentenced to three years in state prison on Friday for distributing child pornography over the internet. 

Hongyu Wang, 21, of Piscataway pleaded guilty on Nov. 22, 2013, to charges of second-degree distribution of child pornography and fourth-degree attempted tampering with evidence.

He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s law, according to a press release from the state Office of the Attorney General.

Wang was indicted in September on charges of sharing child pornography files on the internet. 

Authorities found him as part of an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigation Unit and the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. 

The two agencies were investigating individuals conducting peer-to-peer file transfers of child pornography files and downloaded a file that was traced to Wang's computer at Rutgers, according to the Attorney General's Office. 

On Jan. 26, 2012, a detective approached Wang at the university, who agreed to speak with him and ride to the apartment he shared with his parents, where the computer was located at the time. 

When they arrived, Wang shoved his mother in front of the detective and tried to run toward his bedroom, but was stopped. 

He was found to have powerful magnets in his shoes intended to erase the hard drive data, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Police discovered 230 child pornography videos available for sharing on the computer when Wang was arrested. He was expelled from Rutgers shortly after his arrest.

“Each time we send a defendant to prison for downloading and sharing child pornography online, we send a strong deterrent message to other would-be users of this filth that this is a very serious crime with very serious consequences,” said Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman, in a prepared statement. “We will continue to make these cases a top priority in order to protect children.”