Ex-NJ Scout volunteer gets 25 years for possession of CSAM images

✅John Gillespie Jr. was initially charged in February 2023

✅ Charges were added when an 11 year old girl reported

✅ Gillespie is covered by the Jessica Lunsford Act

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – A former Boy Scout volunteer who was caught with more than 1,800 images of child sex abuse material has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

John Gillespie Jr., 35, of the North Cape May section of Lower Township, was charged in February 2023 after images were found uploaded to his Google account, a tablet and an external hard drive, said District Attorney Jeffrey Sutherland of Cape May County. He was initially charged with possessing images of child sexual abuse material.

Additional charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child after a then-11-year-old girl told Lower Township police she had been sexually assaulted for three years abused by Gillespie years from February 2020, the prosecutor said. The girl came forward after the first allegations were made public.

Gillespie must serve 15 years for the assault under the Jessica Lunsford Act
charge and a consecutive term of ten years for endangering the welfare of a child.

Gillespie is also subject to Megan’s Law and lifetime probation supervision as part of the sentence.

Patrick Linfors, executive director of the Garden State Council, said Gillespie was banned from all scouting activities after his arrest and had his registration revoked. He previously said none of the children in the images were scouts.

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