An Atlantic Highlands man was sentenced Wednesday to 78 months in prison for possessing child pornography on his computer, including violent video images, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. 

Danial Hillman, 28, had previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano to one count of an indictment charging him with possession of child pornography. 

The sentence was announced in federal court on Jan. 23. 

According to court documents filed in this case and statements made in court, undercover law enforcement officers downloaded videos and images of child pornography from Hillman on the Internet via peer-to-peer file sharing software starting in December, 2010.

The images downloaded by federal investigators from Hillman’s shared directories included three videos of three children, all under the age of 12, being sexually abused.

Law enforcement officers from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Atlantic Highlands Police Department, who executed a search warrant at Hillman’s home on April 12, 2011, seized multiple computers, one of which contained images depicting child pornography, including sadistic conduct and other violent images involving minors. 

The investigation leading to the sentence was credited to the work by special agents of the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, in New Jersey under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees; the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni; and the Atlantic Highlands Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jerry Vasto.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Pisano sentenced Hillman to five years of supervised release, with computer-use monitoring. He must register as a sex offender. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Clabby of the U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Trenton. Hillman was represented by Charles F. Clark Esq. of Freehold, N.J.