18YO Camp Counselor Arrested, Charged with Sexual Exploitation of Minor

An 18-year-old camp counselor from Port Chester has been charged with sexually exploiting a minor.

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Michael Bryant Marin was arrested Tuesday and charged with communicating with an underage girl online and getting her to take and send sexually explicit photos and videos to him.

Marin faces one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, which carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

“Michael Marin’s alleged crimes are the nightmare of every parent,” Bharara said. “Using an easily accessible instant messaging application, Marin allegedly terrorized a middle-school student in her home and her school with threats to humiliate her if she refused his demands for sexually explicit photographs and videos."

According to the complaint:

In or about March 2016, MARIN communicated online via Kik and through text messages with a 13-year-old minor female (“Victim-1”) in New Mexico, and convinced Victim-1 to take and send sexually explicit photographs and videos of herself to MARIN.

During his communications with Victim-1, MARIN utilized the screen name “mike___2016,” as well as another account associated with the phone number 914-920-1974. Further, while communicating with Victim-1, MARIN posed as a minor and threatened Victim-1 that if she did not send additional photos and/or videos, he would publicly post the photos and/or videos she had already sent to MARIN on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. MARIN also demanded that Victim-1 act as his “slave,” first attempting to pay Victim-1 and then threatening to post nude photos and videos of Victim-1 if she did not send him the specific photos and/or videos MARIN requested whenever he requested them. As part of this demand, MARIN instructed Victim-1 to photograph and film herself engaging in a number of sexually explicit acts, including bestiality with a pet cat and taking nude photos of herself in her school bathroom.

According to statements made during MARIN’s presentment this afternoon, MARIN is currently employed as a camp counselor in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Police: Arrest made on East Side in Port Chester home invasion

STAMFORD — A Port Chester, N.Y., man who is a suspect in an armed home invasion last month is being held on $250,000 bond after being arrested by Stamford narcotics detectives Friday night as he attempted to flee an East Side hotel, police said.

Detectives staked out the Amsterdam Hotel at 19 Clarks Hill Ave. after receiving a tip from Port Chester police that the suspect, Lee Dragani, 46, was staying there, Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said.

“This all happened very quickly, because there was some concern he would be leaving there,” Conklin said.

Police confirmed with hotel management that Dragani had checked in at the hotel under a different name, Conklin said. Around 6:45 p.m. Friday, police called Dragani’s second-floor room and spoke to a woman indicating they were outside waiting for him to come out, Conklin said.

Police intercepted Dragani as he attempted to run down the hallway to a stairwell, and after a brief struggle he was arrested, Conklin said. Police found a folding knife in his possession, Conklin said.

Dragani took part in a home invasion in May in Port Chester in May along with several other suspects, Conklin said.

Attempts to contact Port Chester, N.Y. detectives for additional information on Sunday were unsuccessful.

Search for Child in Water Deemed Likely Hoax

The response to the possible emergency went on for about 90 minutes.

A likely hoax resulted in a multi-state, multi-agency search for a child in Port Chester Friday.

Lohud.com said Port Chester police first received reports of a body in Byram River, which separates Port Chester from Greenwich, Connecticut, and then a child caught in a drain.

A search in the air and on the water was called off after about 90 minutes, lohud.com said.