LIC man hit with 3,201-count indictment for promoting child sex abuse

A Long Island city man allegedly downloaded, saved and then shared thousands of photos and videos of children as young three years old being sexually abused by adults. Image via Pexels.

By Jonathan Sperling

A whopping 3,201 counts.

That’s how many counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child and possessing a sexual performance by a child a Long Island City man is facing, Chief Queens Assistant District Attorney John Ryan announced on Thursday.

Dodelyn Vertilus, 40, allegedly downloaded, saved and then shared thousands of photos and videos of children as young three years old being sexually abused by adults. The images were allegedly stored on the defendant’s home computer, cell phone and other devices between July and October 2017.

“The defendant in this case is alleged to have accumulated a vile collection of children being sexually abused by adults,” Ryan said in a statement. “The photos and videos are in fact crime scene images where youngsters are violated in the most horrific ways. This defendant allegedly kept the demand for these computer files going by collecting and sharing this content.”

Vertilus is charged with 983 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child as a sexually motivated felony and 2,218 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. If convicted upon his return to court in June 2019, Vertilus faces up to seven years in prison.

Investigators allegedly discovered the awful media stash on July 18, 2017, when an official with the New York State Police used software designed to search and identify individuals — via their Internet Protocol address — who are offering to distribute child sexual abuse material. The software identified the IP address that was continuously sharing files on the peer to peer

Network as belonging to Vertilus’ residence.

Between July 18, 2017, and Sept. 13, 2017, the investigator made direct connections to the IP address on 17 separate occasions and downloaded the 983 images and videos, all of which depicted child sexual abuse. The image and video files had titles such as “Gold 3yo.”

A court-authorized search warrant was executed at the defendant’s Home on Oct. 6, 2017, and numerous electronic devices were recovered by investigators. Forensic analysis of

the recovered devices revealed numerous images on Vertilus’ laptop, as well as on his cellphone and seven thumb drives. The forensic analysis identified a total of 2,218 files which all contained child sexual abuse material, according to prosecutors.

The defendant also said in sum and substance that “I have child pornography on the computer and I downloaded it to view it,” according to investigators.

The images and videos defendant’s collection will be sent to the National Center for Missing and

Exploited Children Child Victim Identification Program.

Ryan noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.