A Haverhill resident who works as a Seabrook, N.H., police officer faces multiple charges of possession of child pornography and distribution of graphic sexual images to a minor.
John Giarrusso III, 48, is due back in court Wednesday, April 2, after his arraignment Monday in Haverhill District Court.
Officer Giarrusso, who was lauded in a Facebook post by his department five years ago as a top fundraiser for a child abuse protection agency, was arrested following an investigation by the Haverhill Police Department. The investigation was prompted after the department received a “cyber tip” on Feb. 11 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alleging misuse of the messaging and chat app Kik by Giarrusso.
Giarrusso is alleged to have used the internet messaging app to discuss and share pornographic videos of children as young as six as they were being raped and assaulted, apparently by their parents and caregivers. To verify that he was who he said he was, he allegedly sent selfies that included his partially obscured police badge.
The detective assigned to the case wrote, “I know that individuals in chat rooms will often make requests to confirm that they are chatting with a real person.”
He allegedly invited pornographic images of infants being sexually abused telling those he was texting with that he had “no age” limit.
As recently as Jan. 6, he is alleged to have had a sexually explicit conversation with a Manchester, N.H., texter who said she was 14 asking her to text him nude images of her body.
He also is alleged to have shared sexually graphic and explicit materials to a texter who said she was in Montreal, Canada. In that conversation Giarrusso is alleged to have bragged that “girls in town” call him “Officer Sexy.”
According to the 19-page police report the investigation turned up 3,209 outgoing messages allegedly associated with Giarrusso’s Kik account.