Ex-Staten Island cop gets 40-year prison term for using NYPD badge to sexually exploit teen boys

An ex-Staten Island cop who used his NYPD job to sexually exploit teen boys will spend the next four decades locked up as a federal judge declared Thursday he “has dishonored the badge that he once wore.”

Former officer Christopher Terranova was hit with the 40-year prison sentence by Judge Kiyo Matsumoto who was unmoved by the pervy defendant’s claims that he let alcohol “get the best” of him and that he battled to come to grips with being gay.

“Many people struggle with their sexuality, but don’t engage in the kind of perversions that Mr. Terranova did,” the judge said in Brooklyn federal court as he threw the book at Terranova by rejecting the 15-year federal minimum for his crimes.

Terranova, 35, used social media in a sickening bid to convince underage boys – one of whom met Terranova as a 15-year-old crime victim – to send him sexually explicit photos over a three-and-a-year span leading up to his May 2023 arrest, prosecutors said.

The 12-year veteran of the police force sexually abused two teens, also both 15, according to the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office.

“I want to apologize for being in this courtroom…I’m ashamed of myself and that I let alcohol get the best of me,” he said while also referencing his struggles tied to homosexuality.

“I understand that no words can capture the guilt and shame that I feel,” he said, tearing up. “I can’t deny the gravity of my actions.”

Terranova and the 15-year-old crime victim first met at the 121st precinct in March 2023 after the boy was robbed. The pervy cop later went through the NYPD’s database to find the boy’s cell phone number and shoot over texts.

“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,” he wrote.

He continued to chat with the victim before the pair connected on Snapchat, where the officer peppered the minor with sexually explicit questions and sent video of his genitals, prosecutors said.

He then tried to get the boy to send an inappropriate photo back, but the boy told his mother and the pair went to police.

Terranova also took advantage of a 15-year-old son of an acquaintance while giving him a ride home from a birthday party by forcing the teen to engage in sex acts with him in a secluded area, prosecutors said.

He met the third 15-year-old – a Texas resident — over social media and used his job to gain the victim’s trust, the feds said. Terranova drove to the Lone Star State and even bought a house in the victim’s neighborhood where he sexually abused the victim.

A 12-year-old boy he met locally while on the job was also targeted with Terranova asking the preteen sexually explicit questions and soliciting sexually explicit photos from him.

He was convicted of six counts of sexually exploiting, attempting to sexually exploit, enticing and coercing the four boys following a five-day trial in November 2024.

Terranova filed for retirement after he was initially suspended without pay by the department in 2023.

While he claimed in court he felt “genuine” remorse, prosecutor Rachel Bennek eviscerated Terranova.

 “His conduct was not simply inappropriate,” she said. “He engaged in a pattern of predatory behavior.”

The cop’s lawyer fought for the only federal minimum of 15 years, but the judge agreed with the US Attorney’s 40-year demand.

Matsumoto said victims in the case “lost their innocence and their sense of safety,” and that “his conduct has eroded the public’s trust in law enforcement.”

“Mr. Terranova, through his actions, has dishonored the badge that he once wore,” she said.