NJ Sex Offender Gets 15 Years For Distributing Child Porn While on Supervised Release

A registered sex offender from Elizabeth has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for distributing multiple child porn pictures while on supervised release on a previous child porn conviction.

Federal authorities say 65-year-old Hugh Cohen was sentenced on Monday in Newark federal court.

Cohen was previously convicted in federal court on a two-count indictment charging him with possessing and receiving child pornography in 2010, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison followed by seven years of supervised release.

That period of supervised release ran from October 29th, 2014, to October 28th, 2021.

While still on supervised release, from March 28, 2021, to April 24, 2021, Cohen engaged an undercover agent in an ongoing sexually graphic conversation on a web-based application. Cohen sent the undercover agent multiple images depicting the sexual abuse of children.

Law enforcement officers also discovered numerous images of child sexual abuse on Cohen's cellphone.

In addition to the latest prison term, Cohen has also now been sentenced to a lifetime term of supervised release and he must also register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger thanked special agents with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations Newark for their assistance in this case.