February 25, 2016
A Cherry Hill man, arrested on child porn charges in 2011 and convicted last June, was finally sentenced to 25 years in prison for his crimes this week.
That's more than four years after being charged with filming a girl who was between nine and 12 years old at the time of his crimes.
Sylvester H. Chew, now 67, was sentenced Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Richard F. Wells on 66 counts of sex crimes.
The case came to trial only last summer. Chew had posted $150,000 bond after his 2011 arrest.
Chew was convicted last June on 37 counts for possession of child pornography, 13 counts of creating child pornography, 13 counts for invasion of privacy, two counts for criminal attempt to endanger the welfare of a child and one count for endangering the welfare of a child.
Andy McNeil, the spokesperson for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, did not immediately respond to a request for information about the years of delay in bringing the case to a conclusion.
Chew used small cameras hidden in a bathroom and bedroom at his home to secretly record the girl while she was nude, according to a prepared release from Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo’s office.
His crimes occurred between April 2008 and August 2011 while the victim was living at Chew’s home, according to the release.
The prosecutor’s statement did not describe how the girl came to be living with him or the circumstances of their relationship. The release, however, did say another adult had initially reported Chew to authorities.
At trial, the prosecution presented evidence and testimony that Chew possessed hundreds of sexually explicit images and videos of the girl – as well as other children.
Chew also attempted to solicit the girl to sleep in the nude and to pose nude with him for a photo shoot, according to the release.
