Roger B. Tees, 74, a former Somers Point government official, pleaded guilty Wednesday to distributing material of children being sexually abused.
The state will recommend a four-year state prison term for Tees at the time of his sentencing. Upon his release from state prison, Tees will be placed on parole supervision for life and be required to register as an offender under Megan’s Law, according to a news release from the Prosecutor’s Office.
Tees, who lives in Somers Point, was the former deputy director of Emergency Management for Somers Point. Prior to that he worked in Pleasantville and Galloway in public positions.
The investigation did not reveal any evidence that Tees engaged in prohibited conduct while working in an official capacity as the director of Emergency Management for Somers Point, nor while working in any role as a public servant, according to the release.
The investigation began when Tees used his Yahoo account to save Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) to his cloud account.
Upon scanning the content for CSAM, Yahoo reported the upload of suspected CSAM to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), ultimately prompting a law enforcement investigation by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office High-Tech Crimes Unit.
The investigation revealed that Tees was sharing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on Telegram, a popular instant message and file sharing application, and saving the material to his Yahoo account, the release stated.
Following a search warrant on his residence, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office High-Tech Crimes Unit, assisted by Homeland Security Investigations-Atlantic City, and the Somers Point Police Department, uncovered numerous videos and photographs depicting children engaged in prohibited sexual acts on Tees’ digital devices, the release stated.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 9.
Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Remy represented the state in the case.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office High-Tech Crimes Unit and Homeland Security Investigations-Atlantic City are members of the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office is also a member of the New Jersey State Police Cyber Crimes Task Force.
