Prosecutor: Area Man Convicted of Possession of More Than 1,000 Child Sexual Abuse Materials

A 34-year-old area man has been found guilty of charges in connection with his possession of large caches of child sexual abuse materials, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Thursday.

Jose Gabe Veras, of Keansburg, has been convicted of: second-degree endangering the welfare of a child for the possession of more than 1,000 items of child sexual abuse material, for criminal incidents that took place between July 2019 and February 2020.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, initiated by a tip received through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, revealed that Veras had used a cloud storage application to store child sexual abuse material on various electronic devices in his home.

The New Jersey Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory assisted the ICAC Task Force in the investigation. Veras was arrested without incident at his home on Manning Place in Keansburg in February 2020 and was indicted in October 2021, then stood trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley, starting earlier this month.

Following his conviction, Veras was remanded to the custody of the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI), pending his sentencing, which is scheduled for Friday, May 19. At that time Veras will face a term of up to 10 years in state prison.

The Monmouth County ICAC Task Force includes members of the following police departments: Bradley Beach, Eatontown, Howell, Long Branch, Manalapan, Marlboro, Middletown, Neptune Township, Spring Lake, Spring Lake Heights, Tinton Falls, Keyport, Keansburg, Belmar, Holmdel, and Red Bank; the Task Force also receives investigative support from the New Jersey State Police.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office