Salem – Today former child and family psychologist Mark Ternullo, 71, of Danvers, was sentenced to three to four years in state prison for two counts of possession of child pornography, Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced. The sentence, delivered by the Hon. Thomas Drechsler, comes after a three-day jury trial last week in which Ternullo was found guilty of the child pornography charges on Friday, October 11 in Superior Court in Salem.
Representing the Commonwealth, Assistant District Attorney Maria Markos presented evidence and witnesses which demonstrated that, in his former apartment in Danvers, Mass., Ternullo kept thousands of images of child pornography. The discovery of the images came to light in early 2022 when a contractor hired by the owner of the apartment building was conducting renovations and noticed a small enclosed space containing the images. Investigators also found additional images on a hard drive owned by Ternullo.
Ternullo had previously worked as a child and family psychologist for more than 20 years, including work for schools in Beverly, Gloucester, Methuen, Middleton, Newburyport, and Newton. His license to practice psychiatry was suspended by the state in 2022.
Attorney Thomas Pierce represented Ternullo, who was also sentenced to three years of probation following the completion of his prison sentence. Ternullo will be required to register as a sex offender, have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, stay away from witnesses and his former apartment building, and complete a sex offender evaluation.
In addition to Markos, the case involved work by the Danvers Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Crime Scene Services units.
