Mineola Man Sentenced on Child Porn Charges

A Mineola man was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison Friday on charges of trading child pornography over the internet.

Michael Hopkins, 25, pled guilty to the charges in US District Court in Central Islip and still faces charges of allegedly raping a 14-year-old Suffolk girl he met on the internet. While Hopkins allegedly did not coerce the girl to have sex with him, she is legally under the age of consent of 15. Hopkins has pled not-guilty.

Prosecutors said that Hopkins had been trading the images online for the past 8 years.

According to authorities, Hopkins was originally arrested in 2010 on the pornography charges which led to the discovery of the alleged rape by both FBI and Suffolk police.

Prosecutors have said that the nature of the pornography was of such a graphic and disturbing nature that it contained images children ranging from infants to 8-year-olds being photographed performing sexual and sadomasochistic acts against their will.

News 12 reports that the police confiscated more than 100 images and 30 videos from Hopkins’ home computer.

According to a Newsday report, Hopkins worked as a monitor at an after-school program in the Half Hallow Hills School District, but

There was no evidence that Hopkins molested any children when he was a monitor at the after-school program for kindergarten through 5th grade at Sunquam Elementary School in Melville, according to Hopkins' attorney, Peter Brill, of Hauppaugea nd Manhattan.

Hopkins apologized before his sentencing, saying:

“I have committed a terrible crime.”

Hopkins’ mother has also reportedly run a day care center out of her Arlington Street home in Mineola.

Hopkins was released on $300,000 bond and was placed under house arrest.