MORRIS COUNTY — Jose A. Lousa, age 60, of Mount Olive Township, has been arrested in connection with maintaining a peer-to-peer child abuse network, and possession of child sex abuse material, confirmed by Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, Morris County Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, Mount Olive Township Police Chief Stephen Beecher, and Boonton Township Police Chief Thomas Cacciabeve.
Lousa has been charged with one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Maintaining a Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Program of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), a first-degree offense; and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Possession of CSAM), a second-degree offense.
According to authorities, the investigation began when the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations Newark – Child Exploitation Group identified possible CSAM on a BitTorrent site in Morris County. BitTorrent is a Peer-to-Peer file sharing network. Further investigation revealed numerous media files, each depicting the alleged sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor, were stored on the BitTorrent site. The investigation further revealed that these files were accessible for download. It is alleged that BitTorrent was associated with the defendant’s residence. Further investigation revealed more than 1,000 items of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) were available for download from the BitTorrent site.
Lousa was arrested on December 7, 2023. Following a detention hearing on December 13, Lousa was released on Pretrial Monitoring Level Three. Conditions of his release include that he is to have no internet access and no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
If anyone possesses information pertinent to this investigation, we strongly urge them to contact the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force within the Sex Crimes / Child Endangerment Unit at (973) 285-6200. Your cooperation is essential in helping us address this matter effectively.
Editors Note: A criminal complaint is merely an accusation. Despite these accusations, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
