Crime & Safety
Perv Says He Downloaded 1000s Of Child Porn Files By Mistake: DA
Vishal Lalbeharry's computer had thousands of pornographic images of children on it, prosecutors said.
JAMAICA, QUEENS – A Jamaica man who said he downloaded thousands of files of child and infant pornography by mistake was indicted on 17,725 criminal charges Monday, the Queens District Attorney announced.
Vishal Lalbeharry, 30, stands accused of downloading photos and videos of young children, some as young as six-months-old, and recording himself having sexual relations with a dog, according to a statement from Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
“The images accumulated by this defendant allegedly contained some of the most horrific ways imaginable to sexually abuse a child," Brown said in a statement.
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Lalbeharry was arrested after NYPD investigators linked his computer to an online platform which had acquired 10,240 files of child pornography between March and April of 2018 and detected 1,150 files downloaded onto Lalbeharry's computer on March 27, said prosecutors.
Police seized Lalbeharry's four laptops, four cellphones and five hard drives and found thousands of images of children, none older than 10, being abused, prosecutors said.
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Lalbeharry told police he downloaded the child pornography files by mistake while downloading "regular porn," according to prosecutors.
Despite an indictment that includes almost 12,000 counts of promoting sexual performance by a child, about 6,000 counts of possessing video showing sexual performance by a child and 16 counts of sexual misconduct, Lalbeharry faces a maximum of seven years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
Lalbeharry's attorney Todd Greenberg called the 17,725-count indictment "excessive."
"I certainly understand the seriousness of the charges and we're going to resolve them through the court system," Greenberg said. "But I've never seen that before."
Greenberg said Lalberharry pleaded not guilty and declined to comment further on the case.
Lalbeharry is slated to return to court on April 22, prosecutors said.
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