May 13, 2009 6:20 am US/Eastern
FBI: N.J. Child Porn Grandpa 'Worst Of The Worst'
Feds Say 66-Year-Old Asked Undercover Detective To Take Pictures Of Him Having Sex With His Own Kids
By KATHRYN BROWN, CBS 2 HD News
HILLSDALE, N.J. (CBS) ―
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Video still of Thomas Elgert being led into FBI headquarters in Newark, N.J. on May 12, 2009.
CBS
A shocking and disturbing crime has rocked a quiet New Jersey neighborhood.
A grandfather was being held without bail Tuesday night on child pornography charges.
Police call Thomas Elgert the "worst of the worst."
They said the 66-year-old grandfather spent months preying on children, collecting naked pictures of them and trading them with sex offenders on the Internet.
"These are children, they are defenseless. They are involved in this through no choice of their own," FBI Special Agent Bryan Travers said.
FBI agents surrounded Elgert's upscale Hillsdale home Tuesday morning and arrested him on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children -- specifically production -- and distribution of child pornography.
"It makes it a little more frightening that no matter how far north you go in Bergen County it doesn't matter; there are predators everywhere," neighbor Terence Reilly said.
Undercover federal agents busted Elgert by posing online as child molesters.
In charging documents agents accuse Elgert of stomach-turning actions -- saying at one point he asked an undercover detective to send him pictures of the detective having sex with his two young children ... and the family pet.
"It's not unbelievable, it's frightening, it's scary," Reilly said.
Within a one-mile radius of Elgert's home there are two schools and the neighborhood is full of young children.
"I am concerned. I want to reach out to the police and find out what's going on because I do have three kids," neighbor Fran Padovan said.
"I'm very shocked ... absolutely awful," added another neighbor.
Investigators took bags and boxes of evidence from Elgert's home.
They believe he may have molested children as well and are urging anyone who may have had close contact with him to come forward.
The FBI investigation was based out of Montana and that's where Elgert is expected to stand trial.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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