Jamaica Man Hit with 17K-Count Indictment for Trove of Child Porn
/By David Brand
A 30-year-old Jamaica man was indicted on a disturbing 17,725 counts of promoting and possessing child pornography in Queens Supreme Court Monday.
Prosecutors with Queens District Attorney’s Office said the massive indictment against Vishal Lalbeharry may be the largest in Queens history. Overall, the indictment is 14,764 pages long.
Lalbeharry allegedly accumulated thousands of photos and videos of children, including babies as young as six-months-old, being abused, said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
“I can not stress it enough, pictures and videos of children being sexually abused is, for all intents and purposes, crime scene images,” Brown said. “The children are real people and they must live with the scars on their bodies as well as in their memories forever.”
Police seized four laptops, four cell phones and five hard drives from the Lalbeharry’s room, prosecutors said. The images allegedly showed nude children being sexually abused. The children’s ranged in age from infancy to 10-years-old.
There were 16 homemade videos of Lalbeharry having sex with a do, prosecutors charged.
The indictment includes 5,903 felony counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, 5,903 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, 5,903 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child and 16 counts of sexual misconduct.
Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro presided at the arraignment. Lahlberry was released on $35,000 bail.
If convicted Lalbeharry faces seven years in prison.