Former Greenport official David Corwin sentenced in child pornography case

A former Greenport official who pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge has been sentenced to five years in federal prison, according to sentencing documents from the Eastern District of New York.

David Corwin, 74, had been found storing graphic images of toddlers and young girls during an FBI search of six computers in his home in March 2021, according to a criminal complaint.

In addition to prison time, Corwin was ordered by Judge Joanna Seybert at his Nov. 18 sentencing to pay a $35,000 fine, court records show. According to prosecutors, he has paid $52,000 in restitution to his victims.

He will begin his sentence in May.

A member of the Greenport Village Zoning Board of Appeals at the time of his arrest, Corwin pleaded guilty in March to a charge of receiving child pornography.

Before sentencing, Corwin’s attorney, Anthony Grandinette of Mineola, pleaded for leniency from Seybert.

Grandinette argued in a presentencing memo that his client had been receiving counseling since his arrest and had stopped using “mind-altering substances.” He also stated that Corwin had never engaged in “sexual predatory behavior” and had only “viewed images online.”

 In a statement, Grandinette told Newsday his client "has had many hardships to endure over his lifetime including serious mental and physical illness."

"Fortunately, following his arrest, he is receiving the medical and therapeutic treatment he needs to overcome his challenges," the statement said. "Hopefully, members of the community will remember all the positive contributions and tireless volunteer work David provided to the Village of Greenport" 

According to the criminal complaint, Corwin invited FBI agents and a Suffolk County police detective into his home on March 18, 2021, and opened a "dark web" browser on one laptop that had live chatting capabilities, which Corwin called "pedo chat." Other computers included sexually explicit images of toddlers and young girls, the complaint said.

One of the computers, according to the complaint, was open to the Bureau of Prisons website, which Corwin was using to search for a convicted sex offender. Corwin told the investigators that the sex offender, who the Suffolk officer said in the complaint had been sentenced to 840 months in prison after admitting that he had photographed his own daughter to trade for other child porn, is "infamous in my world."

In addition to his time on the zoning board, Corwin served on the Greenport Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1991 and again from 2007 to 2008.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.