Freehold gymnastics school owner facing child porn charges, authorities say

A Freehold Township gymnastics school owner was arrested Tuesday on child pornography charges, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced in a press release Wednesday.

Authorities say Ronald J. Charles, 51, of Love Lane in Freehold Township has been charged with two counts of third degree possession of child pornography. Charles is the owner of Galaxy Gymnastics in Freehold. His arrest came following a CyberTip sent by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit and the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Regional Task Force.

According to Gramiccioni, the tip reported that an individual, later identified as Charles, had "attempted to send multiple images of child pornography via his personal email address." Authorities then issued a search warrant for Charles' home office. The search led to the seizure of the Freehold man's computer.

"A subsequent examination of that computer revealed numerous images of child pornography," the prosecutor said.

Charles was arrested, processed and later released after posting $40,000 bail with no 10 percent option, authorities said. Bail was set by Freehold Township Municipal Court Judge Nicole Sonnenblick, but as a condition of his bail, he is prohibited from any unsupervised contact with any minors. In addition, he is barred from using the Internet. If convicted of possession of child pornography, Charles could face up to five years in prison for each count.

Toniann Antonelli is the digital managing editor for news at NJ 101.5. Reach her at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.