A 71-year-old man who worked as a child and family psychologist was sentenced to prison on Wednesday after being convicted of possessing child sexual abuse materials.
Mark Ternullo, of Danvers, was found guilty of two counts of possession of child pornography after a three-day jury trial, Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker announced. He was sentenced to three to four years in prison.
Ternullo kept thousands of images depicting child sexual abuse in his Danvers apartment. The images were discovered by a contractor hired by the building’s owner, Tucker’s office said in a statement.
The contractor was conducting renovations and found a small enclosed space containing the images. Additional images were found on a hard drive owned by Ternullo, Tucker’s office said.
Ternullo spent more than two decades working as a child and family psychologist, including in schools in Beverly, Gloucester, Methuen, Middleton, Newburyport and Newton, according to the statement. The state suspended his license to practice psychiatry in 2022.
Following the prison sentence, Ternullo will serve three years probation. He will be required to register as a sex offender, have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 17, stay away from witnesses and the apartment building he once lived in, and complete a sex offender evaluation, Tucker’s office said.
