VIRGINIA BEACH — A local man pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child porn, 18 counts of possession of child porn—subsequent offense, and six counts of distribution of child porn, according to the case’s “stipulation of facts” released by the office of the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney.
John William Princeton, 51, was arrested Feb. 14 after an investigation by the Virginia Beach Police Department revealed that he downloaded more than 1,300 complete files of child pornography onto his computer using different IP addresses, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
Some of the subject matter in the pornography involved children as young as 3 years old “engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adult men.”
Related story: Virginia Port Authority officer facing 40 child pornography-related charges
Subpoenas were obtained and sent to Verizon to determine the subscriber information for the above IP addresses, and Princeton was determined to be the subscriber. A search warrant of his address in Virginia Beach was executed on on Feb. 14 by the Virginia Beach Police Department SWAT Team and Special Investigations.
Prosecutors said Princeton admitted to having BitTorrent software on his laptop and that he downloaded numerous files of child pornography from the internet. He also admitted he had downloaded numerous files of child pornography on an external hard drive, for which he provided a pass code.
While investigators examined the computers and external hard drives, numerous files of child pornography were found on an external hard drive belonging to Princeton.
Police said Princeton was a Virginia Port Authority officer during the time of his arrest.
The forensic analysis determined the defendant had more than 50,000 files of child pornography, 278,000 files of child erotica and exploitative material.
Princeton is set to be sentenced on Jan. 7.
He remains in the Virginia Beach Jail, according to the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office online jail roster.
