PISCATAWAY – A former Rutgers student was carrying powerful magnets in his shoes that he intended to use to destroy his computer's hard drive, which contained more than 200 images of child porn, authorities said today.
Hongyu Wang, 21, of Piscataway, will serve three years in state prison for second-degree distribution of child pornography and fourth-degree attempted tampering with evidence. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s law, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, which released a statement today.
Wang was arrested in Jan. 2012 when investigators learned a computer at Rutgers University was used to download and share child pornography.
“Further investigation revealed that the computer belonged to Wang,” John J. Hoffman, Acting Attorney General, said in a press release today.
According to investigators:
When a detective approached Wang at the university on Jan. 26, 2012, he agreed to speak to the detective and ride with him to the apartment he shared with his parents, where the computer was located at the time.
However, at the apartment, Wang shoved his mother in front of the detective and ran toward his bedroom.
The detective stopped Wang before he reached the computer, and it was later discovered that Wang had powerful magnets in his shoes that he intended to use to destroy the data on the hard drive of his computer.
The detective obtained a search warrant and found a large number of child pornography files on Wang’s computer. A forensic exam of the computer revealed that Wang was sharing 230 child pornography videos at the time of his arrest. Rutgers expelled Wang after his arrest.
Wang pleaded guilty on Nov. 22.