32 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 10, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Woodhaven man sentenced for
owning and sharing child porn
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
A Woodhaven man will spend decades
behind bars for possessing and sharing
videos of children as young as 2 years old
engaging in sexually explicit acts online,
prosecutors announced Friday, Oct. 4.
Diego Guerra, 41, was convicted of
19 counts of promoting a sexual performance
by a child and 30 counts of possessing
a sexual performance by a child in
June. He was sentenced to 21 to 63 years
in prison and ordered to register as a sex
off ender.
“Th is defendant partook in the vile act
of sharing videos of children on the internet,”
said acting District Attorney John
M. Ryan. “Th ese horrifying crimes should
serve as reminder to all that the internet
must be policed in order to prevent
further instances of children being violated
and degraded in the worst imaginable
ways. Th e Court’s sentence is appropriate
and hopefully serves as a deterrent
to others who would engage in this despicable
crime.”
According to trial testimony, on Jan.
5, 2017, law enforcement offi cers used
an internet soft ware tool to link Guerra’s
IP address to a series of fi les containing
images of child pornography uploaded
to the peer-to-peer fi le-sharing network
ARES. Detectives found that Guerra
had shared several videos depicting children
between the ages of 6 and 12 years
old engaging in explicit sexual acts with
adult men and other underage children.
In some of the videos, children as young
as 6 were seen being sexually assaulted
by adult men, while others showed boys
between the ages of 10 and 12 engaging in
lewd sexual acts.
Charges say that on Jan. 19, 2017,
authorities were able to obtain another
video that Guerra shared on the peer-topeer
network. Th e 24-minute-long video
showed a teenage boy performing a sexual
act on a girl, who was believed to be
between the ages of 6 and 8. Th e video
also showed an adult man giving instructions
to the boy as he continued to penetrate
the child.
Aft er obtaining this video, authorities
subpoenaed records pertaining to the IP
address associated with the account and it
was subsequently determined that Guerra
was the individual sharing the videos.
Police executed a search warrant at
Guerra’s home on July 27, 2017. Once
inside, authorities found a laptop in the
bedroom. Guerra, who was arrested a
few days later, admitted to owning a laptop,
but claimed that he had only found
it recently.
A forensic exam on the laptop found
that Guerra had 60 additional images of
children between the ages of 2 and 12
with their genitals exposed and engaging
in lewd sexual acts. Pictures and video of
Guerra were also found on the laptop and
were uploaded in January 2017, the same
time when the videos were being shared
to the peer-to-peer network.
Jury fi nds Queens man guilty of murder in 2016 Jamaica shooting
BY ZACHARY GEWELB
zgewelb@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A Jamaica man faces up to 75 years to
life in prison aft er being found guilty in
the 2016 murder of a New Jersey man,
prosecutors announced on Oct. 4.
A jury determined that 31-yearold
Elvin Hernandez, of 143rd Street
in Jamaica, shot and killed 20-yearold
Albert Schaper on Sept. 3, 2016 in
Jamaica.
According to trial testimony, Hernandez
walked up to a parked vehicle at around
9:30 p.m. on Sept. 3 in the vicinity of 89th
Avenue and 139th Street and asked the
three men sitting inside, “Are you kings?”
Shortly aft er, Hernandez allegedly fi red
several rounds into the vehicle, striking
Schaper once in the chest. Th e driver suffered
gunshot wounds to both of his arms,
and a third victim sustained multiple
lacerations from shards of broken glass,
according to prosecutors.
Th e three men were transported to a
nearby hospital, where Schaper was pronounced
dead and the others were treated
for their injuries.
“Th e defendant fi red into a vehicle,
killing one man and injuring two others.
Th is senseless gunplay has no place
in the streets of Queens,” Acting Queens
District Attorney John M. Ryan said. “A
jury weighed the evidence presented at
trial and rendered a guilty verdict. Th is
defendant now faces spending the rest of
his life behind bars.”
Th e Violent Felony Apprehension team
arrested Hernandez three days aft er the
incident on Sept. 6 aft er receiving information
from an individual with knowledge
of the shooting, according to trial
testimony.
A jury found Hernandez guilty on
Friday of second-degree murder, second
degree attempted murder, fi rst-degree
assault, fi rst-degree attempted assault
and second-degree criminal possession of
a weapon.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael
B. Aloise set sentencing for Oct. 23, when
Hernandez faces up to 75 years to life in
prison.
Photo via Shutterstock
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