Ex-special cop from Seaside Hts. admits distributing child porn

TOMS RIVER - A former Seaside Heights special police officer and onetime school board candidate will be headed to prison after he admitted in court that he distributed child pornography.

Kevin Meier, 23, of Seaside Heights pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography at a hearing before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels on May 9.

Meier, who was arrested in June 2015 while he was employed as a class II special police officer in Seaside Heights, was facing charges of possessing and distributing child pornography.

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He pleaded guilty to the more serious charge of distribution in a plea deal in which the lesser charge of possessing child pornography will be dismissed at his sentencing, according to court documents.

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Kristin Pressman, assistant Ocean County prosecutor, will recommend a five-year prison term without any period of parole ineligibility when Meier is sentenced on June 23, according to the court documents. That means Meier could be considered for release on parole after serving about a third of  his sentence.

However, Meier will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law once he is released from prison, according to the documents. And Pressman will seek to have Meier placed on lifetime parole supervision at the upcoming sentencing hearing.
Five years in prison is the minimum term for distribution of child pornography. The maximum prison term is 10 years.

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Meier, who worked on the Seaside Heights police force part-time as a special officer, was immediately fired upon his arrest.

The 2013 graduate of the Ocean County Police Academy came on the radar of local authorities after The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwarded suspicions that a resident of Ocean County had downloaded child pornography to the Internet.

The High Tech Crimes Unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office pinpointed the location from which the pornography was downloaded to Meier’s home, and they confiscated several files containing child pornography when they searched the residence, authorities said.

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Meier, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Seaside Heights Board of Education in 2014, was immediately fired from the Seaside Heights police force and taken to the Ocean County Jail upon his arrest in 2015. He posted $50,000 bail and remains free pending sentencing.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com