A Jamaica man was arrested and charged with possessing and promoting child sex abuse material following an investigation that saw Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg work in concert to take down the suspect.
Andre Hyman, 27, was arraigned Nov. 4 before Queens Criminal Court Judge Anthony Battisti on a nine-count complaint charging him with promoting a sexual performance of a child, forgery, five counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and possessing a sexual performance by a child.
Hyman was taken into custody on Thursday, Nov. 3 following a court-authorized search of his 112th Avenue home in Jamaica after investigators determined he allegedly purchased, downloaded, and possessed child sex abuse materials on his computer.
According to the charges, Hyman’s activities were initially discovered as part of a larger, international investigation into the proliferation of online child sex abuse materials.
Law enforcement partners at the Manhattan DA’s Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau were alerted to several websites selling child sex abuse material using Bitcoin addresses. One website in particular advertises access to criminal content in exchange for payment via cryptocurrency.
Katz said that during the course of the probe, investigators tracked the movement of funds from the website to determine the buyers of the illicit images and videos, pointing them to transactions made via Square, Inc., a mobile payment company. Subpoenaed records from Square, Onc., indicated Hyman’s name and address as the buyer of sexually explicit materials involving prepubescent girls.
Prosecutors from the Queens DA’s Major Economic Crimes Bureau launched a further investigation into Hyman’s bank accounts, enhancing the case and securing a search warrant for his residence. The search — conducted by members of the Queens DA Detective Bureau, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and another federal agency — resulted in the recovery of numerous images and videos of child sex abuse material, including an image of an approximately 4-year-old girl being subjected to a sexual act, according to the charges.
The search further resulted in the recovery of five fraudulent checks and blank check stock paper. Upon his arrest, Hyman allegedly confessed to intentionally accessing sites offering child sex abuse materials and attempting to manufacture fraudulent checks for business purposes.
“This case should serve as a warning to all those who think they can safely hide behind their digital wallets to purchase and promote materials depicting the sexual abuse of children,” Katz said. We will use all tools at our disposal, including tracing illegal activity through the digital marketplace, to investigate and prosecute these abhorrent actions.”
Judge Battisti set Hyman’s return date for Jan. 12, 2023. If convicted, the defendant faces up to seven years in prison.
“I’d like to thank District Attorney Bragg’s office for their diligence in launching the initial query into this case,” Katz said. “Following a thorough investigation by my Major Economic Crimes Bureau, the defendant has been apprehended and faces justice in our courts.”
Bragg said he was pleased the initial investigation led to the takedown in Jamaica.
“We are proud that the skills and blockchain expertise of our cryptocurrency analysts helped connect these horrific allegations to a suspect in Queens,” Bragg said. “Thank you to District Attorney Katz for her partnership and her ongoing work to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
