5 federal inmates in N.J. charged with distributing child porn behind bars

Five inmates at the federal prison at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst have been charged with distributing child pornography within the facility.

The five are serving prison terms related to previous child pornography convictions. They have been charged with new counts of distributing images and videos of child sexual abuse within the Federal Correctional Institution-Fort Dix, acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

The inmates allegedly used contraband cellphones and micro SD (secure digital) memory cards to sell and distribute the images and videos.

"These five defendants, each having been previously convicted and imprisoned for trafficking in child pornography, have allegedly continued while in prison to trade and profit from the exploitation and sexual abuse of innocent children," Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

Anthony C. Jeffries, 31, of Orange, Va., was identified as the alleged ringleader. He maintained a "cloud" account containing the images and gave a micro SD card with images to a government informant at the prison, officials said.

Brian J. McKay, 46, of Brookhaven, also allegedly gave a SD card containing images of child pornography to a government informant.

Jordan T. Allen, 30, of Plain City, Ohio, and Christopher D. Roffler, 29, of Virginia Beach, Va., allegedly received payment from the government informant in exchange for a SD card with illicit images.

Erik M. Smith, 35, of Iron Mountain, Mich., sold an SD card to an informant. Smith told investigators he used postage stamps — a form of prison currency — to get a cellphone to access the cloud account.