Retired Peabody police officer facing child porn charges

PEABODY – A judge ordered a retired Peabody cop facing child pornography charges released on $5,000 cash bail the defendant already posted.Joseph Ferrante, 60, of 30 Bresnahan St., Peabody, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography; and dissemination of child pornography, on Monday.Ferrante posted the $5,000 bail ordered by an assistant clerk magistrate and appeared at his arraignment Thursday in Peabody District Court.Attorneys did not discuss the details of the case in open court and Ferrante waived a reading of the charges.But court documents reveal state police investigating an Internet file-sharing network were able to download three movies from an IP address assigned to Bresnahan’s computer, according to a report by Trooper James Dowling.One of the movies depicts two boys approximately 10 to 14 years old performing sex acts with each other, and a second depicts an 8- to 10-year-old boy and an older man having sex, according to police. A third movie allegedly depicts a girl between the ages of 8 and 10 performing sexual acts.Ferrante told a trooper searching the Bresnahan Street home that he has “passed by” child pornography and admitted to having a file-sharing network on his computer, according to police. But “he did not think there was child pornography on his computer,” police said.Police searching Ferrante’s computer, however, found the first of the three movies troopers had originally downloaded and other possible child pornography, according to court documents.Essex Assistant District Attorney Janelle Amadon requested the previously posted bail stand and that Ferrante have no unsupervised contact with children under 18 and not use a computer or the Internet.Defense attorney Samuel Goldberg agreed to the conditions.Peabody District Court Judge Sabita Singh agreed to the Commonwealth’s request and ordered Ferrante to return to court Jan. 24.Goldberg could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.