Howell man faces charges On Nov. 15, a Monmouth County Grand Jury sitting in Freehold returned an indictment charging Paul DeSantis, 50, of Howell, with one count of fourth degree endangering the welfare of a child for possessing child pornography and two counts of second degree endangering the welfare of a child for distributing child pornography. According to a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, these charges stem from a child pornography investigation initiated by the Stanislaus County, Calif., Sheriff's Office in September 2004. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office searched a peer-to-peer file-sharing network for evidence of individuals offering known child pornography videos for download. One such video was traced to a computer at DeSantis' residence, according to the press release. On Nov. 30, 2004, members of the New Jersey State Police executed a search warrant at DeSantis' home with the assistance of the Computer Crimes Unit of the Monmouth County Prose-cutor's Office. Both agencies are members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The execution resulted in the seizure of numerous computers, among other items, and DeSantis' arrest, according to the prosecutor's office. Forensic analysis of DeSantis' computers and other digital media by the New Jersey Regional Computer Foren-sics Laboratory revealed numerous images and videos of suspected child pornography, the prosecutor said. DeSantis is currently free on $9,000 bail. If convicted of the charge of fourth degree endangering the welfare of a child, DeSantis faces a sentence of up to 18 months in jail and a $10,000 fine. Each charge of second degree endangering the welfare of a child carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in jail and a $150,000 fine.