Fugitive charged with possessing child porn extradited to Suffolk, cops say
A Long Island fugitive wanted for possessing child pornography was arrested in Texas last month and extradited to Suffolk County Thursday to face criminal charges.
Roberto Cardoza — wanted for allegedly downloading videos of child pornography from the internet — was arrested in Laredo, Texas, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said Friday at a news conference in Yaphank.
There are 22 videos involving “multiple” children, some as young as eight, he said.
“Some are sex acts where children were being forced to perform sex acts on each other,” Sini said. “Others were adults raping children.”
Cardoza was brought before a judge Friday in First District Court in Central Islip and was arraigned on 22 counts of possession of a sexual performance of a child.
“Roberto Cardoza is an innocent man falsely accused of a crime he did not commit,” said his attorney, Kevin Kearon of Garden City. “We intend to prove so in court.”
In 2009, Cardoza, who lived in Cutchogue, was under investigation for possessing child pornography but fled to El Salvador in May 2010. Later, charges were filed against Cardoza and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
