Press Release
FOREST HILLS ATTORNEY CHARGED WITH POSSESSING AND PROMOTING CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIALS
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that attorney and former FBI agent John Magri was arraigned on charges of promoting a sexual performance by a child for allegedly sending child sexual abuse materials from a computer in his Forest Hills home.
District Attorney Katz said: “The horrific allegations against the defendant are all the more disturbing given that he was someone who had sworn to uphold the law. The exploitation of children simply will not be tolerated. Thank you to our law enforcement partners for their work on this investigation.”
Magri, 57, of Dartmouth Street, in Forest Hills, was arraigned last night on an 18-count complaint charging him with six counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child as a sexually motivated felony; six counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child; and six counts of obscenity in the third degree. Queens Criminal Court Judge Quynda Santacroce set the defendant’s return date for August 14. If convicted, Magri could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
According to the charges:
– Magri’s activities were discovered during an investigation into the sharing of child sexual abuse materials online.
– The investigation turned up more than 700 files from an IP address tied to Magri. The files included videos with children approximately six years old and younger. One showed an infant.
– The NYPD secured a search warrant for Magri’s residence. The warrant was executed Wednesday by the NYPD and Magri was arrested.
– Two laptops – including one under Magri’s bed – a hard drive and a cell phone were recovered from the primary bedroom. Investigators also recovered a desktop computer, modem and five flash drives from a home office, a desktop computer from a living room and a laptop from under a bed in a secondary bedroom.
– A forensic review of the laptop found under Magri’s bed revealed numerous videos and images depicting child sexual abuse materials, including several involving infants.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Ralfi Hernandez and Detective Nicodemus Supangkat of the NYPD’s Computer Crime Squad, under the supervision of Sergeant Mario Dileo, Lieutenant Felix Rivera and Inspector Joseph Kersting, with the assistance of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Speck, Supervisor of the Cyber Crimes Unit within the DA’s Major Economic Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Scharf, Deputy Chief, Assistant District Attorney Catherine Kane, Senior Deputy Chief, Assistant District Attorney Mary Lowenburg, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard Brave.
**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.