An NYPD officer was convicted on four charges of child pornography and sexual exploitation in Brooklyn federal court. The jury verdict came after a weeklong federal trial.

Timothy Martinez, 43, was accused of trying to purchase child pornography from a Twitter user who claimed to be under the age of 18. Authorities also found hundreds of illicit images on his laptop. Federal prosecutors laid out the case that Martinez purposely sought out minors who he believed had been sexually assaulted and targeted a child who was treated for a brain tumor.

Prosecutors said Martinez, who had joined the NYPD in 2006, engaged in video sex chats with young girls starting in 2012. He was arrested in 2020 after federal authorities found evidence that he had paid a Twitter user for explicit images and videos of child pornography.

New York defense attorney Peter Brill of Brill Legal Group, P.C., represented Martinez in the case. Brill argued in court that the girls Martinez allegedly chatted with only saw his Skype account avatar, so they recognized his image but did not know who they spoke with.

A search of Martinez’s Staten Island apartment uncovered a laptop that contained more than 400 images of child pornography. “These images are disgusting … but this case is about whether Tim knowingly possessed child pornography,” Brill told the court.

Brill countered that the images could have come from any one of the countless soldiers Martinez encountered during his time at military bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Romania while sharing the laptop. Martinez was on active duty in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Martinez was charged with possession of child pornography, attempted receipt of child pornography, and two counts of sexual exploitation. He faces a prison sentence of at least 15 years.

Brill Legal Group, P.C., represents clients in a wide range of state and federal criminal cases in New York based on the principle that everyone has the right to a thorough legal defense. The law firm defends individuals accused of sex crimes, DWI, domestic violence, white-collar crimes, disciplinary matters, and many other types of offenses.