Babylon doctor convicted of child porn may do community service

A Babylon doctor, who could have gone to prison for up to 10 years on child pornography charges, may not go behind bars at all after a federal judge Tuesday delayed sentencing for three years if the doctor volunteers full-time to care for the elderly and needy.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler in federal court in Central Islip said he had "hope" that Frank Pollaro, a cardiologist, is capable of rehabilitation without being imprisoned. The community would benefit from his volunteer services, Wexler said, and taxpayers would not have to fund his prison time.

When Pollaro's attorney, Stephen Scaring of Garden City, said that it would be difficult for his client to support himself under those conditions, Wexler replied, "I know it's a hardship, but it's better than his being in jail."

Wexler said Pollaro could work for himself and get paid after putting in the 40 hours a week of community service.

The judge said Pollaro must work five years without pay, after which he would sentence him only to probation. The sentence was adjourned for three years, Wexler said, when he will assess Pollaro's performance.

Wexler said that Pollaro, while out on $1 million bond, had already spent the last year working as a doctor in community service without pay.

In a court filing, Scaring said that his client had performed more than 2,000 hours of unpaid service in the past 13 months, in a weekly schedule that includes caring for patients at a nursing home, an adult home, a drug rehabilitation center, and doing home visits for elderly patients of another doctor.

Pollaro pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography in 2011.

In court papers, Scaring said that his client began viewing "the hypersexualized world of Internet pornography" as an escape from depression because he had Marfans syndrome and had passed the genetic disease of the connective tissue on to his two young daughters.

Only "a small fraction" of Pollaro's viewing involved child pornography, Scaring said.

Symptoms of Marfans, which some historians believe Abraham Lincoln suffered from, include being exceptionally tall with long fingers, and a potentially fatal weakness of the aorta, which takes blood from the heart.

Wexler did not address the Marfans issue.

Scaring declined to comment afterward, as did federal prosecutor Allen Bode. Scaring said his client had no comment.