Long Island man sentenced for sharing sexually explicit images of former classmates
MINEOLA, Nassau County (WABC) -- A Long Island man who pleaded guilty to creating and sharing sexually explicit images of more than a dozen underage women on a pornographic website was sentenced on Tuesday.
Patrick Carey, 22, of Seaford, pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years of probation.
Carey manipulated, or deepfaked, photos of more than a dozen women, including peers and many he knew from high school or middle school.
He copied pictures that he found on social media of the women and edited them into sexually explicit photos and videos.
The district attorney says he then posted those files to a porn website with the girls' names, addresses and phone numbers and encouraged the website's other users to harass and threaten them.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said the underage photos were taken from TikTok and Instagram pages from 2019 to 2021.
Many of the images were taken when the women were in high school and middle school and the women were sent lurid images and videos and sexual threats from people as far away as Scotland.
Officials say he acted with hate and targeted the women "to fear for their safety."
The victims' families were outraged as they left court on Tuesday.
"He didn't get what he deserved, you all know that, you all know he didn't get what he deserved, we all know that," one family member said.
Donnelly said deepfake images are not a criminal offense in New York State.
"The proposed statute will finally address criminally the threat of deepfaked explicit materials that are being weaponized against innocent New Yorkers," Donnelly said.
She said the rise of deepfake imaging is why she drafted legislation in need of sponsorship called the Digital Manipulation Protection Act.
The bill would establish three new criminal statutes related to unlawful publication, dissemination and accessing of sexually explicit depictions of an individual or child.
If convicted under the bill, the felony charge would carry up to seven years in prison.
Although Carey's motive is unclear, he apologized to the victims and their families.
For some it was too little too late.
"I hope he gets forgiveness from the higher power. That's all because it's a horrible thing that he did," said the loved one of a victim. "It's a horrible thing that he did. It's a horrible thing. There's no satisfaction but you know I just pray for the victims and hope they're able to go on with their lives."
Carey must now register as a sex offender.
A stay away order of protection was also ordered for each of the women he victimized.
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