East Meadow man charged in child porn sting, prosecutors say

An East Meadow man has been charged with downloading and possessing videos of children engaged in sex acts after he was arrested as part of a joint sting by county, state and federal agencies, prosecutors said Thursday.

Daniel Sherlock, 25, was arrested at his home Wednesday night by investigators from Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office, the Department of Homeland Security and New York State Police, Rice's office said in a news release. He has been charged with three counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child as a sexually motivated felony, a D felony, and three counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child, an E felony.

He was arraigned Thursday before Nassau District Court Judge Scott Siller and was ordered to be conditionally released to probation, according to the news release and court records. He is being represented by the Legal Aid Society, a spokesman for the DA's office said, and his next court date is Tuesday.

Investigators found Sherlock in possession of at least three videos of girls who appear to be between the ages of 9 and 12 engaged in sexual activity, either alone or with an adult male, the DA's office said, adding that the file names of the videos label the ages of the girls in the videos as 10, 13 and 14 years old.

"Child pornography is among the most harmful kinds of exploitation a child can face and we will do everything we can to hold those involved with this despicable material accountable," Rice said in the release. "I thank our federal and state partners in this case and urge anyone aware of child pornography being traded or produced to contact authorities immediately."

If convicted, Sherlock faces a maximum of 7 years in prison and mandatory registration on the New York State Sex Offender Registry.