NY child psychologist charged with having child pornography

As seen in NewsDay

Prosecutors are investigating whether a psychologist who was arrested on charges of having a massive stash of child pornography ever physically abused any of the children he treated.

The Manhattan district attorney's office released a hot line number that people should call if they believe James Bonczek, a child psychologist and social worker, molested them or their children. The hot line number is (212)335-3025.

Bonczek, 58, was arrested Thursday in his Stuyvesant Town apartment where prosecutors said police found more than 2,000 pictures, some of them showing nude boys who appeared to be younger than 10 in sexually graphic poses.

Bonczek was arraigned Friday in Manhattan Criminal Court on a charge of possessing a sexual performance by a child. Besides the porn images, a prosecutor said, Bonczek was a frequent visitor to Asia and could have been a sex tourist.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Kushner of the Manhattan district attorney's office said the defendant's porn cache was found after a maintenance worker entered Bonczek's apartment to fix a leak and saw an image on his computer screen.

Bonczek was freed on $3,500 bail and told to return to court on Feb. 5, 2008.

The defendant's lawyer, Michael Chernis, said, "We haven't seen any of the evidence yet and I cannot comment."

Bonczek, who received a graduate degree from Columbia University in 1980, runs a private practice where he treats children with emotional and behavioral problems at an office near his home.