N.J. man admits molesting sleeping teen

A South Jersey man caught in a child porn sting admitted Tuesday to molesting a teenage girl as she slept.

Bernard Cahill, 55, of Gloucester Township, was initially arrested in April 2012 as a part of an investigation into the online distribution of child pornography, according to a news release from the New Jersey Attorney General's Office.

A forensic review of Cahill's computer turned up about 1,000 images and 300 videos of child pornography, prosecutors said.

Investigators also discovered sexually explicit images Cahill had taken of a 16-year-old girl.

A subsequent investigation revealed that Cahill, who had access to the girl's home, touched her, and manually penetrated her while she slept on multiple occasions. He also pulled aside her shorts or pulled up her shirt to photograph her exposed private areas, authorities said.

Beginning when the victim was 13, Cahill spied on her and photographed her through her bedroom window while she was alone and naked, prosecutors said.

"This young woman was violated by Cahill on multiple fronts, not only when he sexually assaulted her, but also when he took explicit photographs of her to share online," New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes said in a statement.

Cahill, who lived in Folsom, N.J., at the time of the allegations, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Superior Court in Atlantic County to charges of sexual assault and distribution of child pornography.

The prosecution said it would recommend that Cahill be ordered to serve 14 years in state prison – seven years for each of the two charges – when he is sentenced Sept. 12.

Cahill will also be required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to lifelong parole supervision.