Episode summary
BONUS SERIES: Levittown Episode 4 | 'How Is That Not Illegal' | Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition
Summary
Detective Timothy Ingram’s arrest of Patrick Kerry marks the turn from investigation to prosecution in the Levittown deepfake case. After months of complaints from young women, detectives confront Kerry at his home, hear him confess, and seize his devices. The prosecutors then face a harder problem: the conduct is repulsive, but much of it may not fit existing criminal law.
Assistant district attorneys Melissa Scanel and Kelsey Laura build the case through forensic review of the website, social media accounts, and thousands of posts. They conclude that Kerry’s behavior involved sustained harassment, coercion, and sexual degradation, but they struggle to find a felony charge for the manipulated images themselves. New York law gives them 90 days to figure out charges before they lose the chance.
The breakthrough comes not from the deepfakes, but from a real nude photo of a 14-year-old victim that Kerry redistributed. That image lets prosecutors indict him on felony counts including promoting a sexual performance by a child, aggravated harassment, and second-degree stalking. Even after his guilty plea in December 2022, the website remains online, underscoring how limited local law enforcement is when abuse is hosted beyond its reach.
Key takeaways
- The host says prosecutors saw Kerry’s conduct as clearly harmful but initially had no obvious felony charge for the fake images themselves.
- Melissa Scanel and Kelsey Laura had only 90 days under New York law to find charges that would stick.
- The case broke open when prosecutors found a real nude photo of a 14-year-old victim that Kerry had redistributed.
- Kerry was ultimately indicted on felony counts, but not for the non-consensual deepfake images he created.
- The host argues the website’s overseas hosting left Nassau County prosecutors unable to shut it down.
Notable quotes
“How was that not illegal? Because they weren't real”
“Kelsey and Melissa became experts on Patrick Car's MMO”
“we know that this is bad, but we there's no law yet to cover this, but where are we going to make this work”
“I found her picture”
How the episode opens
A quick note, this is episode 4 of a six-part series. If you haven't heard the prior episodes, we recommend going back and starting there. It should also be noted that this series explores sexualized imagery involving minors and violence.
Please take care when listening. Detective Timothy Ingram in New York was on route to make an arrest. He had been working the Levertown deep fake case for 8 months, ever since a number of young women first called the police that New Year's Eve.
He had had enough. It was 5:00 in the evening when Tim and his partner drove through a quiet Levittown neighborhood and stopped in front of a small light blue Cape Cod style house.
It looked like a regular house. The grass was cut. You know, — The house had a backyard that shared a fence with an elementary school.
It was just a just an everyday house where you wouldn't expect this to be going on. That morning, yet another young woman had walked into a local precinct to tell the police a now familiar story. One that matched the stories of so many others.
This time though, the detectives had already received some key evidence. Evidence that showed the person behind the posts was a guy many of the women knew, someone they went to high school with. Patrick Kerry.
And at that point, my partner and I at the time kind of looked at each other and you know, this has to end now. Whether we go to his house and he clams up and doesn't say anything or whether he admits to it, he was coming with us. Either way, so when we got there, we knocked on the door and Patrick Harry answered the door.
From what I recall, I think he was shirtless when he answered the door.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- levittown investigation
- arrest
- prosecutors on the clock
- is it a crime
- legal questions
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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