TRENTON -- A lawyer from New Jersey was arrested Thursday morning after a State Police investigation found he was distributing child pornography from a computer at his Essex County law office, authorities allege.

Michael Jimenez, 43, is accused of using multiple Twitter accounts to swap files with other users before the social networking service shut them down.

Attorney General Christopher Porrino said Thursday that the attorney's "idea of social networking allegedly was tweeting to child porn offenders like himself who, by their actions, promote and create a market for the sexual exploitation of children."

A message left for Jimenez at his Millburn law firm was not returned Thursday. Authorities said he is licensed to practice in New York but does so from a New Jersey office.

According to Porrino's office, investigators from a State Police technology unit got a tip about the accounts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and their investigation found they had been created with an IP address attached to Jimenez's firm.

The accounts had also been repeatedly accessed from IP addresses associated with Jimenez's home in Jersey City, authorities said. He was arrested there Thursday morning after State Police detectives acted on search warrants at his law office and home.

He was charged with second-degree distribution of child pornography and third-degree possession of more than 100 images of child pornography and released without bail after being processed.

Jimenez is the second New Jersey man this month to be accused of using Twitter to trade child pornography. A Union County man, Charles Diggs, was indicted by a state grand jury Thursday after authorities allegedly found him sharing at least a dozen images of child rape on the social networking site.

Earlier this year, a sweeping investigation dubbed Operation Statewide concluded with 40 arrests of child porn suspects hailing from every county in New Jersey.

Operation Statewide: 40 charged in child porn sweep 40 Gallery: Operation Statewide: 40 charged in child porn sweep

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.