Teacher Sentenced to 57 Months in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

TRENTON, NJ—A Lumberton teacher was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison today for possessing child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced.

U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper also ordered Joseph E. Macanga, 55, of Lumberton, to serve five years of supervise release upon the completion of his prison term. Judge Cooper continued the defendant’s release on a $100,000 bond, secured by the defendant’s residence, pending his surrender to officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on a date to be determined by prison authorities.

On Nov. 6, 2008, Macanga pleaded guilty before Judge Cooper to a one-count Information that charged him with possession of child pornography. At his plea hearing, Macanga admitted that between October 2006 and October 11, 2007, he possessed images of child pornography that he had download from the internet onto his computer.

On April 23, 2008, Macanga was arrested by Special Agents of the FBI on a criminal Complaint that alleged Macanga, who was a sixth grade teacher at Lumberton Middle School, used nearly 30 Internet chatrooms to share images of child pornography.

In determining the actual sentence, Judge Cooper consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

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

Marra credited special agents of the FBI’s Franklin Township Residence Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun in Newark, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Kitchen of the Criminal Division in Trenton.

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