LI magician pleads guilty to child sex crimes

The former Central Islip man who billed himself as "Long Island's favorite magician" pleaded guilty Thursday in Riverhead to secretly videotaping more than a dozen girls and women as they changed clothes at his home photography studio.

Robert Infantino, 52, of Levittown, is expected to be sentenced next month to 5 to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in Suffolk County Court to 108 counts of unlawful surveillance and possessing images of sexual performances by children.

County Court Judge Barbara Kahn said she would sentence Infantino to five consecutive prison terms of 1 to 3 years each. About a dozen victims are expected to speak in court at Infantino's sentencing, scheduled for June 29.

Infantino, in answering questions from prosecutors John Cortes and Jessica Lightstone, admitted using the MySpace social-networking website to lure women and girls to his Central Islip town house with the promise of taking modeling photos, then surreptitiously videotaping them when they changed their outfits.

His 19 victims, some as young as 10 years old, included two sisters and their mother, and a 19-year-old woman who slept at his house while working for his magician business.

Infantino also admitted to keeping on his home computer dozens of photos and videos of children performing sex acts.

"This date has been a long time coming," Cortes said, referring to Infantino's arrest in August 2008.

He said prosecutors agreed to accept Infantino's guilty plea to spare his victims the "emotional trauma" of testifying.

Infantino's victims were not named in court. They were identified by their ages and initials.

Prosecutors said Infantino's secret videotaping system was discovered by a 14-year-old victim who stumbled upon a camera as she changed clothes.

Infantino had failed to appear in court April 27 when jury selection was due to begin in his trial. He turned up a day later at New Island Hospital in Bethpage after a failed suicide attempt that left him with stitches on his wrists.

Thursday, he appeared in court without the bandages that had been wrapped around his wrists last month. Departing from standard courtroom practice, Infantino was allowed to remain seated as he entered his guilty pleas.

Infantino faced more than 100 counts in two indictments filed against him in 2008. He pleaded guilty to all charges except three counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child; those charges were dropped by prosecutors.