Dr. Frank Pollaro sentenced to prison in 2nd child sexual abuse images case

Dr. Frank Pollaro, a Babylon cardiologist who avoided prison time on 2009 charges of possessing child sexual abuse images, was sentenced Monday to 4 to 8 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to similar charges following his second arrest.

"If this comes before me again, you’ll be getting a lot more than you’re getting today," said acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis, after referring to the "sweetheart deal" he received after his first offense.

"Most people hold medical doctors in such high esteem …" she said. "What a disgrace."

One condition of the plea deal that led to the sentence is that Pollaro surrender the medical license he was allowed to keep following his first arrest. 

Pollaro, 55, was impassive during the hearing in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead. When Wilutis asked if he wanted to make a statement, he said, "No, thank you, your honor."

His attorney, James Pascarella of Mineola, declined to comment after the hearing.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement, "This defendant’s continued possession of child pornography notwithstanding a prior federal conviction for the same, demonstrates a disturbing pattern of behavior. Prison, not probation, is appropriate for consumers of child sexual assault materials."

Pollaro was arrested in January after the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received reports to its "CyberTipline" that someone was uploading child sexual abuse images to a social networking website, an affidavit in a separate federal case against Pollaro said.

Police then traced the internet protocol address to Pollaro’s Deer Park residence, which police raided in October. Police found thousands of images and videos of children on his laptop, including girls as young as 4 having sex with adults, and of bestiality, according to the federal affidavit and Tierney's office.

Pollaro admitted on the day of the October raid to trading pictures of young girls with others, according to the affidavit.

The latest period of downloading child sexual abuse images began in 2017, when he was still on probation for the previous conviction, the affidavit states.

On July 11 Pollaro pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. Wilutis sentenced him to 2 to 4 years for each count, to be served consecutively. 

Pollaro was charged with 20 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child and could have faced a maximum of 10 to 20 years in prison if he had been found guilty in a trial rather than agreed to plea guilty to two of the counts, the district attorney's office said in an email.

Pollaro is incarcerated at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, but he has not been formally indicted in the federal case because of plea negotiations, court documents show.

Pollaro had worked since 2011 at Babylon Medical Practice, according to his LinkedIn page. Dr. Howard Hertz, founder of the practice, declined to comment through a receptionist about Pollaro.

The state Board for Professional Medical Conduct had allowed Pollaro to continue practicing medicine after his 2009 arrest, but in 2014 prohibited him from treating anyone 18 or younger. Tierney said it was "inconceivable" that the board let him keep his license following his first conviction.

Health department spokeswoman Erin Clary said in an email that state law bars the department from discussing physician discipline investigations and prosecutions, beyond what already is on the public website.

Pollaro pleaded guilty in 2011 to a federal charge of possession of child pornography. In 2013, U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler ordered him to spend 5 years providing full-time unpaid care for the elderly and needy instead of sentencing him to up to 10 years in prison, saying he hoped Pollaro could be rehabilitated. In 2016, Pollaro was sentenced to 3 years of probation, court documents show.

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.