Detectives use Zillow to track down man charged with child porn

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Rhode Island State Police detectives used a popular real estate website to track down a suspect accused of producing child pornography.

Larry Albino, 50, of North Providence, faces both state and federal charges that he produced and disseminated child pornography with a toddler-aged victim known to him.

On Sept. 16, the state police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with 10 videos that were shared from a computer in Rhode Island.

State Police Det. Brent Wilks, a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, tracked the file to an internet address in North Providence, according to a court document filed in Providence federal court.

“The residence was previously listed for rent on Zillow.com, and the listing provided multiple images of both the interior and exterior of the residence,” Wilks wrote. “A review of the listing photographs of the kitchen revealed a black and brown speckled countertop, brown hardwood floors, a white dishwasher, white cabinets with silver knobs, and a hunter green backsplash.”

The images matched the background of the residence in the illicit video, according to police.

Wilks also spotted a “a brown, Berber style carpet in the living space was observed in the Zillow ad,” that matched one of the videos.

Within 24 hours, detectives were at Albino’s door with a search warrant. Wilks wrote Albino “was wearing bright, multi-colored sandals that I immediately recognized to be the same sandals worn on the feet of the male subject,” in the video.

Questioned as investigators were gathering evidence in his home, Wilks wrote Albino confessed to making the videos and further admitted he produced others but “I don’t have them.”

“I deleted them, you know, knowing what the hell I was doing was stupid and wrong,” Albino told police according to a court affidavit.

He also told detectives that he planned to make money from someone he met online that he described as a "perv."

Albino was first charged with five state counts including producing child pornography and second-degree child molestation. He pleaded not guilty and was initially held at the Adult Correctional Institution until he posted $7,500 bail. He was also charged with possession of a controlled substance after cocaine was found in his pocket and in a kitchen cabinet, according to an arrest report.

Days later, he was arrested again, this time on a federal count of production of child pornography. If convicted, Albino faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years to a maximum of 30 years behind bars.

Wearing a tan prison jumpsuit, Albino appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond for a detention hearing Tuesday afternoon at federal court in Providence. His attorney Kevin Fitzpatrick asked for Albino's release with an electronic monitoring bracelet.

But Almond ordered Albino held without bail, pointing out the defendant was accused of "a heinous crime committed against a very young minor." Because of the significant jail time Albino is facing, Almond determined the defendant was a potential flight risk and a risk to himself.