Levittown Episode 2: Deepfake Pornography and Suburban Horror

Discovery of Deepfake Pornography

• 💡 On New Year's Eve 2020, dozens of young women in Levittown, New York, discovered their photos were used on a website called Come on Printed Pics.
• 🎯 These photos, often scraped from social media, were manipulated to appear naked, sometimes combined with explicit content, and targeted women who had graduated from the local high school.
• ⚠️ Many victims reported feeling violated, disgusted, and paralyzed by the surreal and horrifying experience of seeing themselves depicted in this manner.

Police Response and Legal Limitations

• 🚓 Multiple women and their parents reported the incidents to the Nassau County Police Department on New Year's Eve.
• ⚖️ However, they were informed that due to the anonymous nature of the poster and the use of fake images, there was no real crime under the law at the time.
• ⏳ Despite initial reports, the women felt the police response was insufficient, especially as the harassment escalated over months with new photos being uploaded.

Identifying a Suspect

• 🔍 As the women shared their experiences, they began to suspect someone they knew from MacArthur High School.
• 💬 Cecilia, who had known the suspect since freshman year, recognized his writing style in the detailed, often abusive, fantasies posted on the website.
• 📸 Other women recalled him taking screenshots of their social media photos, which later appeared altered on the site, and some recognized his handwriting on defaced images.

Investigation and Evidence Gathering

• 🕵️‍♀️ Frustrated by the lack of police action, some women, like 'Cat,' began their own investigations, meticulously examining the website and the suspect's online presence.
• 📱 'Cat' found explicit images of the suspect himself on the site and, by cross-referencing his sister's TikTok videos, identified the bedroom used for some of the manipulated photos.
• 📝 The women compiled evidence, including screenshots and IP address information, and presented it to the police, who acknowledged their excellent investigative work.

The Broader Ecosystem of Exploitation

• 🌐 Detective Tim Ingram noted that the Levittown case was part of a much larger global network of non-consensual pornography facilitated by the website.
• 🌍 Hundreds, possibly thousands, of women and girls worldwide were victims, highlighting the scalable nature of this form of harassment.
• 💔 The experience left deep emotional scars on the victims, impacting their sense of self, safety, and trust, with some experiencing severe psychological distress and fear.