WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ (Warren County) – A Warren County man was charged with allegedly possessing videos and images of child sexual abuse, according to U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
Marc Panchenko, 53, of Washington Township, was charged with possession of child pornography. He had an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rukhsanah L. Singh in Trenton federal court and was ordered detained.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, following Panchenko’s release from federal custody in November 2023 for a prior offense, Panchenko was placed on supervised release and a monitoring software was installed on his cellular telephone to detect any images of child sexual abuse materials (“CSAM”).
On or about March 3, 2025, the software alerted the authorities to the existence of CSAM on Panchenko’s phone. A further examination of the contents of the phone revealed the presence of over 600 videos of varying length and over 12,000 digital photos, an ongoing review of which has revealed numerous images of CSAM, including images depicting prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct as further outlined in the complaint.
The charge of possession of child pornography carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but due to his prior conviction on a similar charge, Panchenko is also facing a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison. He is also facing a fine of up to $250,000.
