Former NYPD Cop Bought Home in Texas close to His Sexual Assault Teen Victim; Grooming Letters found in Safe after Raid
A former Staten Island police officer who was already under suspicion for sexually abusing juveniles had previously bought a second home in Texas to be nearer to one of his victims. The details emerged from a recent court filing.
Three counts of attempted child sex exploitation, two counts of compulsion and inducement, and one case of child sexual exploitation are being brought against Eltingville resident Christopher Terranova, 34, in federal court in Brooklyn.
Three victims were first identified in court documents, one of whom was a 12-year-old that prosecutors thought Terranova had first encountered while serving as a police officer with the 121st Precinct.
A fourth victim is now listed in a new filing that was submitted on Friday. It claims the defendant visited Texas multiple times for sex meetings with the 15-year-old.
Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Rachel Shanies claims that the defendant once bought a second house that was at a short distance from the teenager.
The federal authorities claim that the adolescent’s abuse began on social media and occurred between December 2019 and September 2022.
The superseding indictment, released on July 9, states that the defendant urged the minor to send obscene images on Snapchat and to livestream sex acts on FaceTime.
Defense lawyer Vinoo Varghese submitted a move for dismissal last month on behalf of three of the four teenagers, claiming the federal government lacks authority to prosecute since the alleged conduct took place solely on Staten Island and had no bearing on interstate trade.
Prosecutors claim that Terranova targeted a 15-year-old who had been the victim of a Staten Island robbery between March 2023 and May 2023.
Terranova allegedly called the boy pretending to be checking in after seeing his personal information in the NYPD database.
Court filings claim that the boy’s parents recognized him from their neighborhood and ran into him at the Graniteville stationhouse of the 121st Precinct when they went to report the crime as reported by SILive News.
After engaging in a social media dialogue with the teenager about sex and pornography, Terranova finally emailed the teenager an explicit picture of himself.
The prosecution contends that Terranova had improper social media conversations with a 12-year-old between September 2022 and April 2023.
When Terranova offered to bring the child home from a friend’s house in May 2022, he took him to a forested location. According to the authorities, he made the youngster undress in the car and made him perform sexual activities on him.
Authorities searched Terranova’s Eltingville residence after his apprehension.
The victim in Texas allegedly had “grooming notes”—a locked safe containing details on his likes, dislikes, religion, and family—inside.
Additionally, letters purportedly written by the defendant and the teenager with claims that they “experimented” and met in person after Terranova messaged the youngster on social media were found in the safe.
After his arrest, Terranova was placed on paid leave from the force and retired in September 2023, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
He’s still being incarcerated at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.
