A federal jury needed just a few hours to find a former NYPD cop guilty of engaging in sexually explicit online chats with a teenage robbery victim, purchasing a home in Texas to be close to a boy he was sexually abusing, molesting a 15-year-old family friend and other sex crimes targeting children.
Christopher Terranova, 34, of Staten Island, faces a mandatory minimum 15 years to life in prison following his conviction after a five-day trial for 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.
The former cop denied the charges and claimed 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 on Staten Island in March 2023 to report he was the victim of a robbery.
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.”
Terranova asked the teen about the robbery investigation, then asked if the boy would be interested in NYPD youth programs.
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 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 account to continue the conversation with Terranova.
Terranova was arrested on state charges in May 2023 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.
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.
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, according to the feds. Terranova and the teen met several times in Texas to have sex, and the former lawman even bought a second home a few minutes away from where the boy lived, according to prosecutors.
“One of the reasons [the teen] trusted the defendant was because the defendant told [the teen] he was a police officer,” prosecutors said in a federal court filing.
Terranova targeted another victim, a 15-year-old family friend, in 2022, connecting with him through social media, and, after he picked the teen up from a birthday party, forcing the boy to perform oral sex on him.
The fourth victim was 12 when he met Terranova in late 2022, when the cop was stationed at a football field where the preteen 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.
Meanwhile, Terranova’s lawyer, Vinoo Varghese, cast the family friend, who is 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 the youth made up improvised lyrics about pedophilia, singing along to “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club, according to a court filing by Varghese.
Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said, “Today’s verdict hopefully will help victims on their path to healing with the knowledge that the defendant has been brought to justice for his crimes.”
