A 43-year-old East Patchogue man is facing felony charges after Suffolk County police say they found more than 50 AI-generated images depicting child sexual abuse inside his home. Nicholas Zavesky was arrested following a police investigation and was arraigned in court Thursday morning on charges of promoting and possessing a sexual performance by a child.
According to PIX11, the case began after an Internet Crimes Against Children task force provided a tip that led investigators to Zavesky. Digital forensics unit detectives then opened an inquiry, and police say Zavesky took photos of children from various social media platforms and used artificial intelligence to edit them into images that appeared to depict child sexual abuse.
Police executed a search warrant at Zavesky's residence on Knot Street in East Patchogue on August 13, seizing multiple electronic devices for forensic examination, per Daily Voice. Zavesky's formal arraignment came Thursday, after that forensic analysis of the seized devices had been completed, the outlet reported. Police have not released additional information about the case, per the PIX11 report.
What the Charges Carry Under New York Law
Zavesky faces charges of promoting a sexual performance by a child and possessing a sexual performance by a child. Under New York Penal Law Section 263.15, promoting a sexual performance by a child is a Class D felony carrying a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison for a first offense, according to the New York State Senate. Possessing a sexual performance by a child is a lower-tier Class E felony under Section 263.16, punishable by up to four years in state prison.
Critically, New York's criminal statutes under Article 263 explicitly include visual representations created or altered through digitization and artificial intelligence within the legal definition of a child sexual performance, meaning AI-edited images are treated with the same severity as traditional material under state law. A conviction under either statute would also trigger mandatory sex offender registration under New York's Sex Offender Registration Act, according to Stengel Law, which classifies offenders into risk tiers determining community notification and registration duration.
A Rapidly Escalating National Problem
Zavesky's case fits into a broader pattern that child-safety researchers say has exploded over the past two years. Reports submitted to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline involving generative AI rose from 67,000 in 2024 to more than 400,000 in 2025, according to MissingKids.org. The organization has documented more than 275 direct child victims of generative AI abuse material across 2024 and 2025, and it notes that offenders frequently target photos of children taken from social media — the same method police allege Zavesky used.
As of August 2026, 46 U.S. states have enacted specific legislation criminalizing AI-generated or computer-edited child sexual abuse material, according to Enough Abuse, with more than half of those laws passed just in 2024 and 2025 as generative AI editing tools proliferated. Regional Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, like the one that flagged Zavesky's case, rely on automated CyberTipline alerts from tech platforms and specialized digital forensic units to trace this kind of photo scraping and AI manipulation.
Part of a Growing Wave of Cases
Zavesky's arrest is one of several similar cases Hoodline has tracked in recent weeks as states move to prosecute AI-generated child exploitation material under updated felony statutes. Just a day earlier, Hoodline reported on a New Castle case involving federal AI charges, and a separate case out of Campton Township also surfaced this week involving dozens of alleged AI-generated files. Cases in Tampa, Sandy, and Chandler earlier this year resulted in lengthy sentences and first-of-their-kind state indictments, underscoring how quickly law enforcement across the country is adapting to prosecute this emerging category of crime.
