Fair Lawn Octogenarian Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

An 81-year-old Fair Lawn man, who is already serving a multi-year prison sentence for endangering the welfare of two minors, faces a mandatory minimum of five more years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to receiving images and videos of child sexual abuse over the Internet, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.

Joseph Anthony Amari admitted Wednesday during his guilty plea that in February 2007, he used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to download images and videos that depicted children being sexually abused, Fishman said.

Amari, a self-employed landscaper, was initially charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child in 2009, after an 11-year-old girl told detectives that he had been sexually abusing her at his home in Fair Lawn since she was five years old, according to a 2009 NorthJersey.com report.

He's been serving time at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton since last March after being convicted of the child endagerment charges. The additional child porn admission could land Amari in jail for up to 20 more years, Fishman said.

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