DA: Big Child-Porn Collection
Calls ex-teacher's cache largest seized in Suffolk
By Andrew Smith, Staff Writer
Originally published in Newsday, January 30, 2001
A former high school music teacher who taught in Seaford and Manhattan had the largest collection of child pornography ever seen by Suffolk police, a prosecutor said at the man's arraignment yesterday in a Riverhead courtroom.
Anthony Correnti, 26, of West Islip, had so many photographs and video clips of children engaged in sex acts stored on his computers that police aren't sure if they have found them all yet, said Assistant District Attorney Tracy Hoffman.
Correnti taught at Seaford High School for six months until he resigned last March. Before that, he taught at the High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan.
Correnti is the target of a 52-count indictment. He is accused of having sex numerous times with girls who were minors—less than 17 years old, some as young as 13—and with photographing some of those sex acts.
Correnti came to the attention of authorities after the parents of a 13-year-old West Islip girl became aware of his online advances.
"He was found to be in possession of many, many images of children depicted engaging in sexual acts," Hoffman said.
Police said they have found at least 10,000 photographs on his computers and more than 500 video clips.
"In some of these movies, there are images of kids as young as 4 years old being raped and sodomized," Hoffman said.
Police also found a videotape of Correnti having sex with two 14-year-old students of his at the High School for Environmental Studies. He may face criminal charges for that in Manhattan as well, Hoffman said in court.
The city school system investigated complaints in 1999 that Correnti harassed girls, asking to have sex with them and wanting to see videotapes of them engaged in sex. Investigators recommended in September, 1999, that Correnti be fired, but he resigned before any action could be taken.
He began working at Seaford High School less than a month later. Seaford school officials refused to answer questions about Correnti's hiring, saying only in a written statement that a "state-mandated screening process" found no warning signs in his background.
School officials would not say if his resignation last March was prompted by similar accusations.
Hoffman said police also found evidence that Correnti had computer contact with about 1,800 young girls.
"There are countless potential victims out there," she said in court. Correnti's parents came to the arraignment but did not speak.
Correnti's attorney, Frank Maffei of Bay Shore, asked Judge Louis Ohlig to set lower bail, noting there are no allegations of violence. Instead, Ohlig granted Hoffman's request of $500,000 cash bail and ordered Correnti to be put in protective custody and on a suicide watch at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead.
Correnti glanced briefly at his parents in court and then followed them with his eyes as they walked from the courtroom.
Besides teaching, Correnti played guitar and keyboards in two Islip-based rock bands, BS Watson and Action Jackson.
BS Watson's Web site announced the band's demise without giving details. "Goodbye everybody," a notice on the site said. "It was fun while it lasted."
Action Jackson has two Web sites. One includes Correnti and includes guest book comments from fans until Jan. 18, the date Correnti was arrested. That site also includes a link to a fan site for porn star Ron Jeremy.
The band's updated Web site has no mention of Correnti, and his picture was replaced with that of a stuffed bear named Bad Andy.
