PEABODY — A retired Peabody
police officer has been charged with storing and sharing child pornography on
his computer.
Joseph Ferrante, 60, of 30
Bresnahan St., Peabody, is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Peabody
District Court on charges stemming from an investigation by the state police
Internet Crimes Against Children unit, according to court papers.
Ferrante was arrested at his
home on Monday after troopers obtained a search warrant that allowed them to
seize and examine Ferrante’s computers. A preliminary search confirmed that
among the items on the computer’s hard drive was a video of two boys engaging
in sexual activity.
That is the same video Sgt.
Michael Hill found when he visited a file-sharing network in September.
The video, with the name
“bibcam,” (short for “boys in bedroom”) depicted adolescent boys, 12 and 14,
engaging in sexual acts. It was one of the videos listed on the file-sharing
site as being available from a specific computer within the group.
Hill also found another video
showing a boy under the age of 10 engaging in sexual activity with an older
male. As the investigation continued, Hill was able to link directly to the
same computer and found another video, this one described as a “preteen
hard-core” video of an 8-year-old girl.
Using the IP address of the
computer, prosecutors sought a subpoena from Comcast and learned the identity
of the subscriber, Ferrante.
On Monday, they showed up at
Ferrante’s home with a search warrant.
Trooper James Dowling
confronted Ferrante, who initially acknowledged only that he had “passed by”
child porn.
Ferrante admitted to using the
file-sharing service and admitted that he had both searched for and viewed
child pornography. But he allegedly told investigators he did not believe there
was child pornography on his computer.
A trooper who did a preliminary
search found, in addition to the video of the two adolescent boys, files with
names that suggested that they also contained child pornography. Police took
the computer for a full search.
Ferrante, who is divorced, was
released late Monday on $5,000 bail set by an assistant clerk magistrate
following his arrest.
Ferrante is facing charges of
possession and dissemination of child pornography. The possession charge carries
up to a five-year prison term, but dissemination of child pornography carries a
minimum mandatory 10-year term and up to 20 years in prison