Cop who e-mailed kiddie-porn from police computer gets 14 years

What was this cop thinking?

A Pennsauken cop e-mailed 1,017 digital photos and 11 movies of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit acts - with titles including "lilrape" and "ria licking lise" - using a Police Department computer.

His reasoning? The 17-year police veteran didn't want his own two children to see the child porn on his home computer, according to assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Weiner in Camden.

At yesterday's sentencing in U.S. District Court in Camden, the former patrolman, John E. Schenberger Jr., 42, of Winslow Township, N.J., broke down in tears when he apologized to his family and the public.

About 10 relatives, including his parents, brother and wife, attended the hearing, but did not speak, according to Weiner.

U.S. District Judge Renee Bumb sentenced Schenberger to 14 years in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release.

"The children in those images were the victims of heinous, depraved acts," said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie.

"It shocks the conscience that a police officer would perpetuate their victimization by further distributing their images on the Internet."

Christie called the 14-year sentence "long and appropriate," considering that a cop "engaged in the conduct while on duty."

Of the photos and movies sent via the Internet, almost 800 photos and nine digital movies depicted prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit poses and/or acts, according to federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Schenberger's attorney, Timothy Quinlan, did not return a call from the Daily News.

The first-time offender had been facing 210-to-262 months in federal prison because of enhancements - for using a computer to e-mail porn, including some sadomasochistic images of prepubescent children - under advisory federal-sentencing guidelines.

But Schenberger, the computer czar of the Pennsauken police, confessed to sending the images in two batches last year, when federal agents from ICE arrested him on July 10.

Weiner said that Schenberger had been caught in an undercover operation by the Memphis Crimes Against Children Taskforce, and indicted by a federal grand jury in Tennessee.

The case was later transferred to federal court in Camden.

Schenberger admitted that he had sent his first batch of 539 photos and eight digital movies on June 5, after talking with an individual in Tennessee, by using the instant-messaging feature on hello.com.

On July 5, he sent the second batch - 532 photos and three movie files - to the same individual, Schenberger admitted at a Jan. 2 hearing.

"He was contrite from Day One," Weiner said.

"He fell on his sword." *