Photo Courtesy of Musell Law
A State Police investigator conducting an online investigation on a peer-to-peer network monitored downloads of both videos and photographs of child being sexually abused to an IP address associated with a computer used by Smith in his Jamaica home.
By Forum Staff
A security guard working at an after-school program in Manhattan, pled guilty this week to a felony charge of possessing a sexual performance by a child.
Andre Y. Smith, a 22-year-old licensed daycare provider, is accused of downloading more than 1,500 images and videos of children being sexually abused.
“This case underscores the crucial importance of law enforcement’s internet surveillance initiative to protect youngsters from sexual predators,” said DA Richard Brown. “This defendant, who chose to work in environments where he would be surrounded by children, had hundreds of images of children as young as two years old being raped, fondled and sexually abused in the most heinous ways. The public should be aware that videos and pictures of youngsters being touched, penetrated and forced to perform sex acts, are for all intents and purposes, crime scene images. These children are crime victims and will have to live with the abuse they endured for the rest of their lives.”
Smith was employed part-time as a security guard at a Manhattan after-school program until his arrest in June 2017. He pled guilty to possessing images of sexual performance by a child, and Justice Gia Morris, indicated she will impose a sentence of one to three years in prison on January 16, 2018. Smith will also be required to register as a sex offender.
During an online investigation on a peer-to-peer network, a New York State Police investigator monitored downloads of videos and photographs of children being sexually abused between February and June of this year, to an IP address associated with a computer used by the defendant in his Jamaica, Queens, home.
Images on videos and in stills showed girls as young as two being penetrated by adult men both vaginally and anally, as well as with objects.
Some of the images showed the prepubescent girls performing oral sex on men, as well as having oral sex performed on them.
On June 15, police executed a court-ordered search warrant at the defendant’s residence. Smith stated at that time that he was the only one who used the laptop associated with the IP address in which the child pornography was downloaded.
During a forensic examination of Smith’s electronics, authorities recovered more than 1,500 images of the abuse.
