L.I. teach busted on child porn charges

A Long Island high school physics teacher was arrested Monday on child pornography charges after hundreds of images were found on his Google account, cell phone and laptop, federal officials said.

Joseph Zanco, 43, a teacher at Massapequa High School, was named in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Central Islip that accused him of transportation and possession of child pornography.

According to federal authorities, Zanco, who is married and has a 6year-old child, in April uploaded over 400 computer files with images of child pornography to his Google account from his desktop computer at his home in Massapequa.

Almost immediately after this upload was completed, Google flagged the files, suspended Zanco’s account and notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, authorities said.

During a subsequent raid of his home, law enforcement found evidence of the upload to his Google account, and child porn images on his cell phone and laptop as well, authorities said.

Zanco “is a mandated reporter of crimes against children” in his role as a teacher, U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghe wrote in a detention memo.

“Instead of reporting crimes against children, he was perpetrating crimes against children.”

At his arraignment in federal court in Central Islip, Zanco was released on $300,000 bond, and ordered held on home detention, electronic monitoring, and prohibited from using the internet.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in jail.