Putnam Deli Owner Charged with Upskirting, Hidden Camera in His Store and Possessing Child Porn
Mug shot of Derrick Rocco from the Carmel Police Department
Derrick Rocco’s life began to fall apart on July 4, when he was caught “upskirting”-taking photos of young girls in a Mahopac supermarket. Two victims at the Mahopac Stop and Shop were able to help Carmel Police to identify Rocco, who had fled the scene. He was arrested on July 12 and charged with second degree unlawful surveillance, and was released with a monitoring bracelet
But the story doesn’t end there for Rocco, 47, married and a father of two boys, after Carmel Police and the Putnam County Sheriff’s office examined the contents of his cell phone and found videos alleged to have come from a hidden camera in the bathroom of Rocco’s Deli on Route 6. The videos that Rocco kept on his phone included underage girls, but also adult women and men.
Rocco’s iPhone also contained videos of underage girls having sex that were not from the Deli. The possession of those videos could put him in jail for a long time. He is charged with three counts of sexual performance by a child, a five felony counts of second degree unlawful surveillance.
Because Rocco’s resident was in Putnam Valley, that investigation is being handled by the Putnam County Sheriff’s office, and the incident in Mahopac by the Carmel Police Department.
Carmel Police Lt. Bodo said that the Sheriff’s department used their experience in electronics to help find some of Rocco’s storage devices. Kudos to Putnam Sheriff’s Investigator John Hyla and K-9 Hannah, who is trained in detecting hidden electronic storage devicesm, for uncovering additional evidence.
Rocco has been the owner of Rocco’s Deli and Catering, located at 926 Route 6, since 2021. But Rocco kept the name of the prior owners of the sucessful deli at that location, Bucci Brothers Deli.
Patrons of the real Bucci Brothers deli said that the family was dismayed at what happened, and obviously did not know about who they sold their business to. Some on Facebook were angry at others posting to make the clairification about the ownership, which we believe is important for everyone to know.
As one post on Facebook read, “you never know who is the pervert that may be hiding among us. He could be a former teacher and sports announcer. Or he can be the family man with everything going for him. It’s a scary time.”
The reference in the post concerns Richard Leaf a former Harrison Teacher and announcer at the Westchester County Center. Leaf recently admitted his crimes, which included receiving a naked video from a 15-year old boy. The required sentence for receiving child pornography is a minimum of 5 years. ]
