US Based Guyanese Parole Officer indicted for child porn after airport search uncovers ‘Underworld’ Telegram chat

Guyana: What began as a routine airport customs check ended in a chilling discovery, as 53-year-old Colin Kowlessar a Guyanese-born New York State parole officer who worked as a therapist, was indicted by the federal grand jury for possessing child pornography on July 30, 2025 in Brooklyn.  

Kowlessar was charged on federal child pornography charges on February 27 after the  U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stopped him for a search at JFK Airport and discovered explicit videos of underaged girls in his mobile phone when he arrived in New York from Guyana. 

Kowlessar, the US Based Guyanese Parole Officer and a resident of Freeport, Long Island was then arrested at the JFK airport but released on a $250,000 bond with conditions to surrender his service firearm, avoid contact with minors (except for his 16-year-old son from a previous marriage), and refrain from treating patients under 18 in his secondary role as a therapist.

The court documented that the three short videos found in his phone with at least one having victims under the age of 12 was downloaded from an illicit Telegram Channel group titled “Underworld VIP” and “freaksonline”. The police also uncovered the archived conversations in which the members used coded language to associate with child pornography including the red emoji with the number 18 crossed over. 

The case has raised serious concerns about access to vulnerable individuals and abuse of authority as the 53-year-old had been previously employed with the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. 

The incident has disgusted several across Guyana and USA with people taking to social media to criticize the wrongdoer and noting that such men exist all across the world. “I want trump to deal with his case really good. There are a lot more like him I'm sure. Disgusting humans Can you imagine he's probably a part of children abduction too,” wrote a user named Lin Fair Lewis while another said, “This is disgusting. I believe the authorities need to step down on the mass telegram groups as well.”