BOSTON — An assistant chief probation officer for Lynn District Court was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court with child exploitation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Brian Orlandella, 46, of Beverly, faces one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of giving obscene material to a minor. He is scheduled for a probable cause hearing on Friday.
In May, a Texas mother contacted police about messages she found on her 13-year-old daughter’s cell phone between the teenager and an adult man, later identified as Orlandella, according to court documents.
The messages, sent via Kik, an instant messaging mobile app, revealed the man sent the minor images of himself masturbating and asked her to send him nude pictures and videos of herself. The teen told him she was 14 years old. He acknowledged that he is much older, the complaint said.
Authorities traced the suspect’s Kik account’s IP address to Orlandella’s home where police executed a search warrant and seized phones that are undergoing forensic analysis, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The multiple charges would add up to 40 years in prison.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, launched by the Department of Justice to protect children from exploitation and abuse.
Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section, the initiative marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.
