Attorneys for the Pleasantville High School principal accused of possessing more than 1,000 images of child pornography is appealing his detention to the state Supreme Court.
Edward Bonek, 48, is charged with first-degree child endangerment and official misconduct in the case, which alleges he used a peer-to-peer file sharing network to download the images of child sexual assault onto his district-issued laptop.
He was ordered detained pending outcome of his case at an Aug. 14 detention hearing.
Despite a recommendation by the public safety assessment that he be released on his own recognizance, Superior Court Judge Benjamin Podolnick ruled at the time that Bonek was “a danger to the community” and that there was nothing that could insure he would comply with restrictions to his computer usage.
An appellate panel backed Podolnick's decision Tuesday.
On Wednesday, defense attorney John Zarych confirmed an appeal has been filed with the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
In the filing, Zarych associate Brendan Shur argued that, not only are safeguards available to limit or monitor Bonek’s computer usage, but that to use that as the reason for detention would mean “that any offense in which a computer was utilized would require pretrial detention.”
“This holding also disregards one of the central purposes of the criminal justice system, which is to assure that all individuals charged with a crime are treated in a uniform manner,” Shur wrote.
He said he knew of no other case in the state that denied release for an accusation of possessing child pornography on a computer.
At the detention hearing, Zarych argued that Bonek did not know that the files he downloaded were of pornography involving children. He said Bonek even urged investigators to check to see that he never opened any of the files in question.
The Absecon man is currently in the Cape May County jail after having been moved from Atlantic County for an undisclosed reason.
Bonek was scheduled to be in court Wednesday, but was taken off the list as the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office prepares to take it before a grand jury for indictment.
