A Drug Enforcement Agent allegedly brought thousands of images of child porn on his personal computer to his office and was caught after he asked a co-worker for help booting up the computer.
Investigators said Darren Argento had hundreds of photos and videos on his personal computer. Many of the images included photos of nude young girls in sexually suggestive positions, officials said.
Prosecutors said Argento brought the personal computer to the DEA offices in New York hoping an I-T specialist could help with the technical problems he was having. The computer apparently was not booting up properly in part because of the thousands of download images allegedly contained inside.
According to court records, Argento insisted on having a back-up files made because he said he "did nbot want to lose electronic files of music or other important information on his hard drive."
After fixing the computer, the computer specialists examined the back up drive that was in the office and discovered "numerous images of female minors in various poses," the criminal complaint said.
DEA agents and the Department of Justice Inspector General's office then got a court order to seize and inpsect Argento's personal computer. Officials said during the court authorized search, they discovered more than 73,000 images and 723 videos associated with "preteen and/or teenage girls."
Argento was arrested on possession of child pornography charges. His attorney Sabrina Shroff, a federal defender, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Local
Shroff appeared in federal court in lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.
Jonathan Dienst WNBC
