A Long Island health care executive contacted 11 teenage girls for sexually explicit material and obtained thousands of videos of child pornography, federal investigators said Wednesday.
Jacob Walden, 38, was hit with six child porn charges and taken to a Brooklyn federal jail after he pleaded not guilty at a hearing in Central Islip, according to Newsday. Walden is a co-owner and executive of Emerald Healthcare, which manages nursing homes nationwide.
The feds said they found more than 500 images and 5,000 videos of child pornography on Walden’s phone, Newsday reported. They also said he messaged 11 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 on social media, enticed them into making sexual content for him and paid them for it.
“Walden insisted that he be addressed as ‘daddy,’” gave the girls specific directions such as “take off your top” and paid them after receiving the disturbing content, the Justice Department said in a press release.
“The defendant enticed minors to produce sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves and send them to him via the internet in exchange for payment,” new Brooklyn U.S. Attorney John Durham said. “Protecting children from predators who sexually exploit them will always be a priority of my office.”
Walden was charged with two counts of sexually exploiting a child, one count of receiving child porn, one count of possessing child porn and two counts of accessing child porn with intent to view it. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years if convicted.
