A Jamaica man gets one to three years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse photos and videos on his personal computer that were traced through cryptocurrency transactions.
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A Jamaica man on June 5 was sentenced to one to three years in prison for possessing child sex abuse photos and videos on his personal computer between May 2021 and November 2022 traced through transactions he made using cryptocurrency, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Andre Hyman, 29, of 112th Avenue, pleaded guilty last month to possessing a sexual performance by a child before Queens Supreme Court Justice Jerry Iannece.
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, Inc., 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…
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