A Montco sheriff’s deputy was arrested in South Jersey for possessing child porn, police say

A Montgomery County deputy sheriff has been suspended after being charged in Cape May County with possessing child pornography, officials said Wednesday.

James Christopher Buckley, 57, of Gilbertsville, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child for possessing the sexually explicit images, according to the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office. He remained in custody there, pending a bail hearing.

Investigators in Cape May received a tip in March 2020 about child pornography being uploaded to and accessed by an iCloud account and corresponding cellphone number, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for Buckley’s arrest.

The IP address associated with the account and number were traced to a vacation home in Wildwood owned by Buckley, the affidavit said.

During an interview with detectives, Buckley admitted to possessing the child pornography, and said he had found the images on the website Tumblr during the COVID-19 pandemic while searching for adult pornography, according to the court filing. He then emailed the pictures to himself, he said, to store them. Buckley told investigators he knew it was wrong to possess the images.

A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that Buckley was suspended after his arrest.

In a statement, Sheriff Sean Kilkenny said his office is cooperating with the investigation.

“The conduct outlined in these charges is antithetical to the values and principles of our agency and an affront to the public’s trust,” he said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to serving and protecting the residents of Montgomery County.”

A LinkedIn profile associated with Buckley showed that he was initially hired as a deputy in 1990 and served nine years before leaving for another job. He returned to the county as a deputy in 2014.