Man facing porn charge hit with gun counts

A Bellmore resident, charged last month by federal agents with collecting child pornography, will now face additional charges of possessing two loaded handguns without a permit, Nassau County police said.

Alfonso Marino, 63, of Alder Road, was arrested Friday morning while in custody at the Nassau County jail in East Meadow and charged with two counts of fourth-degree possession of a dangerous weapon. He will be arraigned Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead on the weapons count.

Marino, a retired teacher at Flushing High School, was originally arrested by agents from the Department of Homeland Security on Sept. 19 after authorities said he confessed to downloading and collecting child pornography.

He pleaded not guilty in federal court to a charge of violating interstate and foreign commerce laws by receiving depictions of one or more minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

During a search of Marino's home in September, authorities said they found two loaded handguns.

A Nassau police spokeswoman said the department waited to arrest Marino on the weapons counts until after the federal charges were processed and administered.

Marino told investigators last month that he had images of child porn on his computer and storage disks and that he had been collecting the pornography for 10 years, according to court documents. Marino said he retrieved images and videos, searching especially for children ages 7 to 18, court documents state.

Marino, who told agents that he never touched any children, said he retired last year as a night teacher at Flushing High School and had worked as a suburban school bus driver from 2005 to 2010, federal officials said.

A New York City schools spokeswoman said Marino was a substitute teacher for four days in May and June 2011.