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A 23-year-old Astoria man had hundreds of videos and photographs of young children being sexually abused by adults, telling police that what started as an activity to help his girlfriend turned into an obsession.

Alex Flores of 38th Street in Astoria pleaded guilty on April 20 to possessing a sexual performance by a child after police received a cyber tip report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that he uploaded images of child pornography on his Google account in September 2016.

According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, the NCMEC told NYPD detectives that a Gmail account linked to Flores uploaded two images possibly linked to child exploitation. Flores admitted that the email address charlesf20@gmail.com belonged to him when he was interviewed by police.

An investigation into Flores’ external hard drive found 20 images of prepubescent children between the ages of five and 12 being vaginally and anally penetrated by adult males. Other electronic devices in his home contained hundreds of videos and photos of children as young as 4 years old being sexually abused by adults.

“The defendant has admitted that his curiosity became an obsession and that he sought out, downloaded and saved several thousand images and videos of children — some as young as 5 — being sexually abused by adults,” Brown said. “These are not just pictures and videos. They are for all intents and purposes crime scene photos of children being sexually abused. They are real people who will have to live with the abuse they suffered for the rest of their lives. This defendant will go to prison as a result of his actions.”

Queens Criminal Court Judge Gia Morris indicated she will sentence Flores to one to three years in prison on his sentencing day, June 12.