Long Island educator and coach pleads guilty to receiving child pornography

NEW YORK – A Long Island assistant superintendent and coach admitted in federal court Wednesday to receiving child pornography.  The guilty plea follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Kevin Barry O’Connell, 54, pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography at his residence in Patchogue, New York.  He faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years, and a fine of $250,000. 

According to court filings and admissions made in court at the time he entered the plea, O’Connell downloaded video files of the rape and abuse of children as young as eight years old which he kept on thumb drives in his Patchogue home. During a court-ordered search of his residence on Oct. 15, 2012, O’Connell initially lied to HSI agents and denied that he possessed child pornography until agents found three thumb drives in the pocket of a jacket at the house. O’Connell then admitted that he had hidden the drives in the jacket.

Following his arrest, O’Connell was suspended from his employment as an assistant superintendent for secondary education in the Roosevelt Union Free School District. O’Connell had previously served as the Principal of Bellport Senior High School in the South Country Central School District and an assistant principal at Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School. O’Connell was the Varsity Baseball Coach from 1990 to 2001 at William Floyd High School.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199.

Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.