FREEHOLD – A 74-year-old township man has been sentenced to a total of eight years in prison, after being convicted of owning and sharing child sexual abuse materials, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago confirmed.

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James Simmons was found guilty by a jury in July after a failed defense in which he testified that more than 100 videos of child sexual abuse in his possession had belonged to his late son.

His son had died before the 2017 sweep that netted the arrest of the retired computer scientist and 13 others for similar disturbing material.

On Friday, Simmons was sentenced in Monmouth County Superior Court to eight years on a second-degree charge of endangering the welfare of a child, distribution of child sexual abuse materials.

He received four years on a third-degree charge of endangering the welfare of a child, possession of child sexual abuse materials charge — but the terms would be served at the same time.

Simmons was also required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and was subject to parole supervision for life.

NJ arrests 31 accused child predators in "Operation 24/7"

A roundup of 31 men have been accused of sexually exploiting children online, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced on July 14 while detailing "Operation 24/7."

The suspects “possessed and or distributed videos and images of child sexual abuse, including in many cases videos of young children being raped by adults,” Grewal said.

Chat apps and gaming platforms remain favorite hunting grounds for child predators and even as the pandemic winds down, many children have continued to spend more time online.

State Police received 39% more tips in just the first 6 months of 2021 than they received in the entire year in 2019. The following are suspects charged in "Operation 24/7."

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

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