A former NYPD cop the feds say enticed a teenage robbery victim into online sex chats, and bought a home in Texas to be closer to another youngster, will go on trial Monday for child porn and sex abuse charges.
Christopher Terranova, 34, of Staten Island, is accused of starting inappropriate relationships with four underage boys, two of whom he met in his official capacity as an NYPD officer. He is charged with sexual exploitation of children and coercion and enticement of a minor.
He chatted them up by phone and on social media, and in two cases, he engaged in “hands-on sexual activities” with the boys, according to a filing by prosecutors.
All four boys, and two of their parents, could potentially testify in Brooklyn Federal Court against Terranova after his trial starts on Monday.
Terranova denies the charges and maintains that one of the four victims lied about the alleged abuse to gain clout with his 45,000 followers on TikTok.
Terranova, who joined the NYPD in 2011, first started drawing scrutiny after he reached out to one of the teens, a 15-year-old boy who showed up at the 121st Precinct stationhouse in March 2023 to report he was the victim of a robbery, the feds allege.
The cop used an NYPD database to find the teen’s cell phone number and texted him, “Hey… it’s Chris Terranova the cop you met at the 121 that day with mom , i just wanted to reach out to see if you were doing ok after the incident, I hate seeing these things happen to good Guys like yourself,” the feds allege.
Terranova asked the teen about the robbery investigation then asked if the boy would be interested in NYPD youth programs, the feds allege.
From there, he asked to link up with the boy through Instagram and Snapchat and his messages on Snapchat turned sexual, culminating with him sending the teen a photo of his penis, the feds allege.
The teen told his mom, who briefly posed as her son on Snapchat and said Terranova was making him uncomfortable, the feds said. Then the mom and teen went to the police and that led to an undercover cop taking over the boy’s Snapchat to continue the conversation with Terranova.
Terranova was arrested on state charges in May 2013 and the case against him snowballed from there, leading to more allegations and federal charges last December.
Terranova was suspended from the NYPD after his arrest and left the force in September 2023. He remains held at the MDC Brooklyn federal jail.
Investigators learned about the Texas victim after Terranova’s initial arrest, when they found a trove of photos of the victim and other evidence in a locked safe in the ex-cop’s house, the feds allege.
He met the boy through social media at the end of 2019, when the teen was 15, and chatted with him about sex acts through text messages, Snapchat and Facetime, the feds allege. Terranova and the teen met several times to have sex in Texas and the former lawman even bought a second home a few minutes away from where the boy lived, prosecutors allege.
“One of the reasons (the teen) trusted the defendant was because the defendant told (the teen) he was a police officer,” according to a federal court filing from prosecutors.
Terranova targeted another victim, a 15-year-old family friend, in 2022, connecting through social media and, after he picked the teen up from a birthday party, forcing the boy to perform oral sex on him, the feds said.
The fourth victim was 12 when he met Terranova in late 2022, when the cop was stationed at a football field where the pre-teen was playing youth football, the feds allege. He communicated with the boy for months, asking about masturbation and requesting the youngster send penis pictures to him, the feds allege.
Terranova’s lawyer, Vinoo Varghese, cast the family friend, who’s identified in court documents as John Doe No. 2, as a clout-chasing liar who accused an NYPD officer to gain social media followers.
The teen posted screenshots of Snapchat messages from Terranova and recorded a video about the cop’s arrest where he made up improvised lyrics about pedophilia singing along to “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club.
“John Doe 2’s social media postings demonstrate his need for attention and social media followers. His bombastic and flamboyant videos have generated over a million views,” Varghese told the Daily News Thursday. “We have argued in papers that his need for attention and desire to gain more followers is what motivated him to lie about the sexual encounter with Chris.”
Jury selection in the case starts Monday.
