New Jersey Man Sentenced to More Than 29 Years in Prison for Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material on the Dark Web

A New Jersey man was sentenced today to 350 months in prison for distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a dark web site dedicated to discussing and trafficking in CSAM.

"The court's sentence today holds Drew Holzlein accountable for his role in helping run a community on the dark web dedicated to trafficking in visual depictions of minors being subjected to horrific acts of sexual abuse," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "Those who engage in this disgusting conduct will be investigated and prosecuted. The clear message in this case and others just like it is that Holzlein and his co-conspirators will not skate by because of the anonymity afforded by the dark web. We will still find you."

"By serving as a moderator on a dark web forum devoted to the dissemination of child sexual abuse material, the defendant did not merely enable exploitation - he curated and sustained a marketplace of depravity," said U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer for the District of New Jersey. "This sentence marks a critical measure of accountability and affirms my Office's unwavering commitment to vindicating the rights and dignity of the most vulnerable. We will persist in our efforts to expose and dismantle these clandestine networks, wherever they operate."

"This offender provided access to a platform where multiple perpetrators conspired to create and share CSAM," said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI's Criminal Division. "The arrest of this moderator led FBI Newark and the FBI Child Exploitation Operational Unit to investigate and disrupt the activities of additional child exploitation offenders and abusers. The FBI will continue to track down these criminals, ensure that they are held accountable for their crimes, and secure justice for their victims."

According to court documents, Drew Holzlein, 57, of Manchester, New Jersey, was a member and moderator of a website on the dark web that was dedicated to the proliferation of CSAM. From approximately 2019 until his arrest in January 2024, Holzlein was an active participant on this site and shared thousands of sexually explicit images of nude, prepubescent minors with the site's many users. A search of Holzlein's home in January 2024 recovered multiple electronic devices containing images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of prepubescent children. Holzlein was interviewed during the search and admitted to law enforcement that he was an active member on this dark web site for years and served as a moderator on the site. Holzlein was previously convicted in New Jersey of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

The FBI's Child Exploitation Operational Unit and the FBI Newark Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorney William G. Clayman of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Belgiovine for the District of New Jersey prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.