When I saw the headline for this article I was hoping it would be some high-profile actor, even though it’s a terrible thing to think, but it’s a guy you most likely don’t remember from Law & Order SVU. Albert Insinnia, 57, played a lieutenant on just two episodes of the show in 2004 and 2005. He now lives in Bloomfield, NJ, and took his computer into a Best Buy for repairs without cleaning out the hard drive first. There was some incriminating stuff on there. He was arrested for possession of child pornography after authorities found 180 images of child porn on the computer.

His excuse, according to his lawyer, is that the images aren’t his and that other people use that computer, even though it’s a laptop.

Albert Insinnia, 57, of Bloomfield, turned himself into the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department in Wayne on Monday and was released on bail Tuesday morning, said sheriff’s spokesman Bill Maer.

Insinnia was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography after authorities allegedly discovered 180 images of child porn on the hard drive of the actor’s laptop computer.

Reached at his home Tuesday afternoon, Insinnia told The Associated Press he had no comment, but his lawyer, Joseph Portelli, said he planned to plead not guilty at an arraignment Tuesday afternoon.

“I understand what he’s been charged with, but I do have to say that based on my conversations with him and the authorities involved, I sincerely believe he’s not guilty,” said Portelli, who mentioned that his client also works as a real estate agent.

According to Portelli, the hard drive on Insinnia’s computer has been transferred various times in the last few years and a variety of people have had access to it.

“Any images that may have been on that computer are not his,” Portelli said, adding that there are no allegations that his client purchased or sold any of the images.

The sheriff’s department has not ruled out additional charges for Insinnia and its investigation is ongoing, Maer said.

“If you exploit a child in Passaic County, you will be hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale said in a statement.

The investigation began after Insinnia took his computer to a Best Buy electronics store in West Paterson for repairs. A technician found the images, police said, and alerted a police detective working security at the store.

[From WNBC.com via Fark]

The guy hasn’t had a lot of work since Law & Order, according to IMDB, and this arrest isn’t going to do much for his career. Is it wrong of me to think this guy is guilty because he’s creepy looking? There are two sides to this child pornography issue. Creeps who are into this stuff are fueling the exploitation of children and as a mother I think they should be exposed immediately and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The other more liberal side of me thinks that they should be prosecuted, but in court, not in a public forum. After seeing Capturing The Friedmans I realized how far we can go to protect our children, and sometimes fear takes over and these creeps pay for their perversions with a lifetime of jail and/or stigmatism.

I’m not sure how I feel about the sex offender registration system either. There are legitimate pedophiles on there that families have the right to know about. On the other hand, if you look through the actual databases online (at least the one I looked through in my neighborhood in the states) most of the guys are on there for other sex crimes, often “minor” things that they’ll never escape even if they’ve long finished their jail time and/or probation.

This guy will surely always be known as that onetime Law & Order SVU actor who was into kiddie porn. The creep.