An Elmhurst man who previously worked as an architect admitted in court on Monday that he downloaded a cache of child pornography containing hundreds of explicit images and videos of juveniles, prosecutors announced.
Jaime Lozano, 58, a former architect from St. James Avenue, pleaded guilty to two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child. Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter, who accepted the plea, ordered him to return to court on July 7 for sentencing and indicated Lozano would likely serve several consecutive prison terms of between two and four years.
The illicit downloads were discovered after members of the Department of Homeland Security, as part of an ongoing investigation, raided Lozano’s home on April 18, 2014, and seized his desktop computer. The hard drive was found to contain 2,665 photos and 316 videos of children — some of whom were as young as 2 — being molested and sexually assaulted.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Lozano obtained and shared the explicit material through the peer-to-peer network Emule for more than a year before his arrest.
In pleading guilty, prosecutors said, Lozano agreed to forfeit all of the electronic devices that law enforcement agents seized and to register as a sex offender.
“These images are — for all intents and purposes — crime scenes, and the abuse the children endured is very real and will be with them forever,” Brown said in a statement Monday. “This case should serve as a clear and unmistakable warning that law enforcement is prepared to apprehend and prosecute those who attempt to engage in illicit activity involving children.”
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