BOSTON (WHDH) - An East Boston man accused sexually assaulting one child and enticing another to create child pornography for him transmitted dozens of graphic sexual images of minors through a smartphone application, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins announced Wednesday.
A grand jury returned indictments Tuesday charging 29-year-old Domenic D’Amore with four counts of trafficking in persons for sexual servitude, four counts of dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, three counts of posing a child in a state of nudity, eight counts of dissemination of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, and two counts of possession with intent to distribute child pornography.
“These charges are disturbing and represent some of the worst crimes against children,” Rollins said in a statement. “Survivors who have been exploited through child pornography may never be fully able to put these offenses in the past, because the images of their abuse live on. They bear the pain of knowing that individuals across the globe – and possibly even in their own community – are viewing photos and videos of the most painful and degrading moments of their lives.”
The charges stem from an investigation that began in December when workers at a Revere pawn shop notified police that they found images depicting child pornography on a phone that D’Amore allegedly sold at the business, officials said. A forensic examination of that phone and a second phone belonging to D’Amore revealed hundreds of graphic images and videos of children being sexually abused or posed in a sexual manner.
Prosecutors say D’Amore had shared and received similar graphic images through the Kik app on multiple occasions, including a single day in November during which he allegedly shared at least 75 files containing child pornography.
D’Amore is also charged with trafficking in persons for sexual servitude for allegedly enticing a teenage victim to create child pornography. In a text exchange discovered on a second phone belonging to D’Amore, he allegedly made statements offering to pay the victim in return for sexual images and acts and instructed the teen to pose nude in photos.
In addition to receiving photographs from the victim, D’Amore is also accused of sending sexual images to the child.
D’Amore was initially arraigned in January in Chelsea District Court in connection with the case.
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