Seaford man accused of putting ‘deepfake’ images of teenagers on pornographic sites: Nassau D.A.

Brandon Duffy
Police say Patrick Carey, 20, of Seaford, allegedly took pictures off social media, altered the, and posted them to pornographic websites. (Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons)

A 20-year-old man from Seaford allegedly shared sexually explicit images of teenage women onto pornographic websites after altering them, police said 

Patrick Carey was indicted on Nov. 23 for his role in creating “deepfakes” of teenage women and posting their personally identifying information online, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s office.

A “deepfake” is a convincingly altered image where victims’ faces are edited into pictures of sexual conduct. According to police, approximately 11 women from January to September found pictures, many taken while they were in middle school and high school, from their social media accounts re-posted to pornographic sites along with their information. 

Carey was arrested on Sep. 5. 

Carey is charged with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, possessing a sexual performance by a child, aggravated harassment in the second degree as a hate crime, stalking in the second degree, ten counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree, ten counts of stalking in the third degree, three counts of harassment and endangering the welfare of a child. 

“This defendant allegedly manipulated the photos of more than a dozen women, taken when they were teenagers, and posted the ‘deepfake’ images online for strangers’ sexual gratification,” said Joyce Smith acting district attorney for Nassau County. “His depravity deepened when he allegedly shared the victims’ personally identifying information – including their home addresses – encouraging site visitors to harass and threaten the women with sexual violence.”

Carey faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted of the top charge. The defendant’s bail was set at $50,000 bond, $25,000 cash, and $150,000 partially secured bond. 

Each woman that had their images surfaced on the sites had attended MacArthur High School in Levittown, where Carey graduated in 2019. Police said they received reports of women who say they received notifications of Carey screenshotting some of social media pictures that appeared online. 

During an investigation, police executed two dozen search warrants on Carey’s phone, tablets, social media and web accounts, which revealed Carey was in possession of many images of the women and allegedly posted them online. 

Senior Investigative Counsel Melissa Scannell and Senior Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Lorer of NCDA’s Rackets and Enterprise Bureau are prosecuting the case. Carey is represented by the Legal Aid Society.

Carey is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 4, 2022. Efforts to reach his attorneys were unavailing.

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