Suffolk police arrest West Babylon man in child-sex-abuse material case

Suffolk County police arrested Mark Escorcia Jr., 24, of West Babylon after a cyber tip pushed detectives to a March search of his Herzel Boulevard home and months of digital evidence review that ended with child-sex-abuse material charges in Central Islip.

Police said the case began with a tip to the Internet Crimes Against Children hotline, a national reporting pipeline that can send investigators to homes far from the original complaint. Suffolk County police said Digital Forensics Unit detectives executed a search warrant at 1226 Herzel Blvd. on March 13, 2026, and seized electronic devices for forensic analysis before making an arrest on May 4.

After examining those devices, detectives charged Escorcia with possessing a sexual performance by a child and promoting a sexual performance by a child. Police said he was scheduled to be arraigned that day at First District Court in Central Islip. The release did not detail the contents of the devices, but the charges indicate investigators believe child sexual abuse material was stored and possibly distributed.

The case shows how online-exploitation investigations often unfold in Suffolk: a tip comes in, devices are taken, and analysts spend weeks or months pulling together evidence before charges are filed. That work falls heavily on detectives, forensic examiners and prosecutors, who now face a steady stream of digital cases that increasingly begin with a hotline rather than a neighbor’s report.

The scale is enormous. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says its CyberTipline received 20.5 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation in 2024, and the organization describes that system as the nation’s centralized reporting line for online child exploitation. The Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, launched in 2006, works with Internet Crimes Against Children task forces to combat technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.

For Suffolk families, the warning sign is the same one that drives many of these cases into court: secrecy around electronic devices, hidden images or files, and online contact that appears to involve minors. The Suffolk County Police Department’s First Precinct covers the Town of Babylon, including West Babylon, putting this case squarely in the heart of a community where online abuse investigations and local police work now overlap.

As with any criminal charge, the accusation is not proof of guilt, and Escorcia is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.