LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (WCBS 880) -- A Long Island man is accused of using “deepfaked” images of former classmates on a porn website.
Patrick Carey, 20, of Seaford, was indicted last month and arraigned Thursday on two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, possessing a sexual performance by a child, aggravated harassment as a hate crime, and several counts of stalking.
According to the indictment, from January through September, Nassau detectives were contacted by 11 women who had discovered pictures of themselves on a porn site. Another woman came forward last month, saying she found an explicit photo of herself, taken while she was underage, on the same site.
Many of the women told police that the pictures were from high school or middle school and were reposted from their own social media, and made to look like they were “engaging in sexual conduct.”
The pictures were allegedly “deepfakes,” a convincing form of superimposing someones face over separate images.
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According to the Nassau DA’s office, the images came with their names, addresses and phone numbers.
A Long Island mother told WCBS that her daughter was among those affected by Carey.
"This is just terrible and it has affected these girls,” she said. "These are good girls. It's just horrible what this animal has done."
All of the victims attended MacArthur High School in Levittown, and believed Carey was the person behind it. Some told police they received notifications that he had screenshotted some images that ended up on the site.
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An investigation determined most of the posts with the photos came from three different usernames that images were posted from August 2019 until September 2021. The user also encouraged others to harass the victims, the DA’s office said.
After multiple warrants on Carey’s possessions and accounts, officials said Carey possessed images of the victims. He was arrested in September.
"These young women are the unsung heroes of this case. They were getting these filthy images,” said Nassau prosecutor Melissa Scannel. “They were getting these filthy messages and they took it upon themselves to figure out where they were coming from and to reach out to the police and to advocate for themselves And to give us the evidence that we needed to help hold him accountable for this."
Carey faces up to 14 years in prison. He had bail set at $50,000 bond.
The school district’s superintendent called the allegations serious and extremely disturbing in a statement.
Officials asked anyone else who may think they’re a victim to call 516-571-2553.
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