Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Pemberton Township Police Chief David H. Jantas announced that a Pemberton Township man was arrested yesterday on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography.
Donovan Balthazor, 30, of the 400 block of North Carolina Trail in the Browns Mills section of the township, was charged with two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Second Degree), including one for possession of child pornography and one for distribution. He was also charged with Knowingly Possessing an Image Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of a Child (Third Degree).
The investigation began when the Prosecutor’s Office High-Tech Crimes Unit received intelligence from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning the defendant’s online activities. The investigation revealed that Balthazor possessed a photo that he shared online depicting a nude pre-pubescent female.
Numerous digital devices were seized during a search warrant executed yesterday at Balthazor’s residence. The devices will be analyzed by detectives from the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit.
The case was investigated by the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit, with assistance from the New Jersey State Police, Pemberton Township Police Department, United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations and United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The lead investigator was BCPO Detective Sergeant Dave Kohler, supervisor of the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit.
Balthazor, who is originally from the Tampa, Florida area, serves in the United States Air Force and is stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. He was taken into custody on the base yesterday by USAF OSI and turned over to the BCPO.
During a first appearance in Superior Court in Mount Holly today, Balthazor was released pending trial but ordered not to have unsupervised contact with minors and was forbidden from accessing the Internet unless it is on a government computer for work purposes. The case will now be prepared for presentation to a Burlington County Grand Jury to be considered for indictment.
The High-Tech Crimes Unit is a member of the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the New Jersey State Police Cyber Terrorism Task Force.
All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.