Cops: Burglary suspect charged with possession of child porn

A Garden City man arrested on a burglary complaint faces charges of child pornography possession after investigators found images of young girls on his phone and his computer, Nassau County police said Thursday.

Some of the girls were as young as 8, police said.

Peter Alford, 24, of Maxwell Road, was arrested by Third Squad detectives Wednesday at 4:45 p.m. He was charged with five counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child, two of second-degree burglary, two of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

Court records show Alford was arraigned and was to be held on $22,500 bond or $6,000 cash, but officials at the Nassau jail had no record of him at the facility Thursday evening. He is scheduled to return to court July 17.

Police said the arrest of Alford began with a reported burglary on County Courthouse Road in Garden City Park. The subsequent investigation determined that Alford "had been stealing money from his girlfriend's roommate's closet," police said in a statement — and Alford was arrested.

Police said that a complainant, whose identity was not  disclosed, told investigators that Alford had pornographic images on his phone. Alford denied  that but gave detectives permission to search his phone.  At least one such image was recovered, according to police. Detectives later obtained permission to search Alford's computer and discovered what were described as "multiple images and videos believed to be child pornography," police said.

Police said the videos "contained female children between the ages of 8 and 13 performing sexual acts."

It was not immediately clear whether Alford was represented by counsel.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”