Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer has announced that Matthew Wolny, 43, of Jackson, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence for receiving child pornography, has been sentenced to five years in state prison following his guilty plea to distributing child pornography.
The state prison sentence carries a five-year period of parole ineligibility, according to Billhimer, who said Wolny will be required to register as a sex offender in accordance with New Jersey’s Megan’s Law upon his release from prison.
Wolny is the former information technology director for the Howell K-8 School District.
According to a press release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, an investigation conducted by the office’s High Tech Crime Unit and the Jackson Police Department in 2013 determined Wolny had been distributing child pornography through a file-sharing application on his computer.
On Sept. 26, 2013, detectives executed a search warrant at Wolny’s residence and seized computer equipment belonging to Wolny that contained evidence of child pornography distribution, according to the press release.
During the investigation, detectives located videos from a YMCA in Toms River where Wolny hid a camera in a bathroom area and videotaped individuals changing and showering.
Further investigation revealed Wolny had videotaped students in Maryland during a class trip. At the time, he was a youth band leader and the information technology director for the Howell schools, according to the prosecutor’s office.
In 2018, Wolny was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in relation to the offenses.
On Nov. 26, 2018, Wolny pleaded guilty to the charges that arose in Ocean County. His sentencing on those charges was delayed pending his sentencing on the federal charges.
On Aug. 20, 2019, Wolny was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on a charge of receiving child pornography. He is serving that sentence in a federal correctional facility in Mississippi.
Wolny has now received the five-year state prison sentence for the distribution of child pornography in Ocean County. That sentence run concurrently with his federal sentence, according to Billhimer.