Public records show a previous address at 350 East 92nd Street, among other UES buildings (Google Maps)
A Manhattan man has been sentenced for secretly filming his sexual encounters with women inside Upper East Side apartments he rented, nearly four years after he was first charged.
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Daniel McAvoy, the 52-year-old son of Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy, was handed a 30-day jail term at Rikers Island and five years of probation by state Supreme Court Justice Ellen Biben on Thursday. Biben also ruled that McAvoy will not have to register as a sex offender, citing his completion of a yearlong court-ordered treatment program, his expressed remorse, and what she deemed a low risk of re-offending. She additionally noted that registry requirements would interfere with his duties as the parent of a minor.McAvoy had pleaded guilty in November 2024 to seven counts of unlawful surveillance after being indicted in 2022 on 29 counts. Investigators seized three hard drives and more than 150 DVDs — many labeled with women’s first names and descriptions of sex acts — from his father’s home outside Binghamton. Past addresses linked to Daniel McAvoy have included 325 East 90th Street, 350 East 92nd Street, and 1590 First Avenue. The elder McAvoy, now 86 and appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan in 1986, has never been accused of wrongdoing.
Manhattan prosecutors had pushed for six months in jail, well short of the one-to-three-year maximum McAvoy faced. In court, Assistant District Attorney Danielle Turcotte laid out the full scope of the recordings: McAvoy had filmed roughly 75 women over approximately 15 years, with the material catalogued across homemade DVDs, cameras, computer files, and even his phone, she told the court. Turcotte called it “some of the worst, if not worst case of unlawful surveillance in this county,” according to the NY Post.
Two of McAvoy’s victims addressed the court at a November hearing, both permitted to withhold their names. One said she had been living in “a constant state of anguish and distress” since learning of the recordings, Gothamist reports. The other asked Biben to impose a sentence “proportionate to the gravity and duration of the conduct,” adding that she had been forced to prepare her children and stepchildren for the possibility that the footage could one day become public.
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At sentencing, McAvoy offered little in the way of contrition. “This case and its process has taken its toll,” he told Biben, per the NY Post, adding that the financial burden and uncertainty had “been difficult to deal with.” Biben indicated she was troubled by a letter McAvoy had submitted to the court that framed his conduct in terms of “neglect” or “carelessness,” suggesting he “may not fully appreciate the criminal nature and severity of his conduct.” McAvoy — who has claimed he suffers from a voyeuristic disorder — declined to face reporters after the hearing, reportedly descending 11 flights of stairs to avoid them.McAvoy is scheduled to surrender on May 11 to begin his term. Two civil lawsuits filed by victims seeking damages against him remain ongoing.
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