Jamaica man sentenced to 2 years in prison for 6,000 child porn images

The Queens Criminal Courthouse. Eagle file photo by David Brand.

By Victoria Merlino

A 31-year-old Jamaica resident was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty last month to possessing almost 6,000 images of child porn. 

Vishal Lalbeharry was convicted of possessing thousands of images of child porn on 13 electronic devices, with some photos and videos featuring children as young as 6 months old being abused by adults. He also pleaded guilty to having sex with a dog after investigators found 16 video recordings of him committing the act. The sentence was handed down by Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro.

The 17,000-count indictment against Vishal Lalbeharry was possibly the largest in Queens history, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

“This defendant has now been held accountable for possessing such a horrific collection of images of children — including babies — being defiled in the most horrific and sickening

Ways,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. “I would like to make it clear to all that merely possessing images and/or videos involving children being sexually abused are crimes and will be vigorously prosecuted.

At sentencing, Katz said, dozens of statements from the victims in these images were read into the court’s record, detailing the pain that they have suffered through these pictures and videos. It took over two hours to read all of the statements. 

After the prison sentence, Lalbeharry will serve three years of post release supervision.