Former School Bus Driver Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey
June 16, 2010

NEWARK, NJ—A Wanaque, New Jersey man was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for possession of child pornography, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

William C. Murphy, 59, pleaded guilty in October 2009 to a one-count Information before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden, who also imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

Murphy was originally arrested on March 27, 2009, by Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Newark Innocent Images Unit on a federal criminal complaint. Murphy was employed as a school bus driver from approximately 1999 until the time of his arrest.

At his plea hearing, Murphy admitted that he downloaded approximately 241 images and approximately 150 videos containing child pornography from the Internet. The images portrayed individuals less than 18 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including numerous minors under the age of 12.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hayden sentenced Murphy to five years of supervised release. In determining a sentence, Judge Hayden consulted the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant’s criminal history, if any, and other factors. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI’s Newark Innocent Images Unit, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lakshmi Srinivasan Herman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Joseph T. Afflitto Sr., Esq., Wayne, New Jersey