CAMDEN – A former New Hampshire police officer was sentenced to 200 months in federal prison today in connection with his attempt to abduct a Galloway Township minor for the purpose of sexual contact and for engaging in sexually explicit conduct with another minor for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct in Passaic County, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas also ordered George Nugent, 57, of Whitefield, N.H., to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison sentence. Judge Irenas remanded the defendant to the custody of the U.S. Marshal to begin serving his sentence.

On Oct. 13, 2006, Nugent pleaded guilty before Judge Irenas to a two-count Information. Count One charges him with attempting to transport a minor across a state line for the purpose of engaging in sexual explicit conduct. Count Two charges him with sexual exploitation of a child.

At his plea hearing, in regard to Count One of the Information, Nugent admitted that on Aug. 21, 2005, he knew that an individual identified as N.B. was a minor, and had not yet attained the age of 16 years. Nugent admitted that on that day, he attempted to transport the minor from New Jersey to New Hampshire with the intent that N.B. engage in criminal sexual activity with him. Nugent admitted that he used a computer and an Internet access device to solicit and persuade N.B. to engage in the sexual conduct.

In regard to Count Two, Nugent admitted that from February 2003 until May 2004, he knowingly engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a minor identified as J.S. and did so for the purpose of producing visual depictions of the conduct. Nugent also admitted that he took photographs of J.S., at a time when he knew that J.S. was under the age of 18, and that some of those photographs portrayed sadistic and masochistic conduct and other depictions of violence. For the purpose of producing sexually explicit photographs of J.S., Nugent admitted he used a computer and an Internet access device to solicit the participation of J.S. in the sexually explicit conduct. Nugent also admitted that he transported the visual depictions showing J.S. engaged in sexually explicit conduct in interstate commerce.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents with FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Pedro Ruiz, in Newark, Investigators with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Jeffrey S. Blitz, and Police Officers with the Galloway Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief Keith M. Spencer, for investigation of the case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Carle, of the Criminal Division in Camden.

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Defense Attorney: Lori Koch, Esq. Assistant Federal Public Defender