Danvers man sentenced to prison for possession of child abuse material

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 following 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 home. The images were discovered by a contractor hired by the building owner, a statement from Tucker’s office said.

The contractor was doing renovations and found a small enclosed room with the pictures. Additional images were found on a hard drive belonging to Ternullo, Tucker’s office said.

According to the statement, Ternullo worked as a child and family psychologist for more than two decades, including at schools in Beverly, Gloucester, Methuen, Middleton, Newburyport and Newton. The state suspended his license to practice medicine as a psychiatrist in 2022.

Following the prison sentence, Ternullo will serve a three-year probation sentence. He must register as a sex offender, have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 17, stay away from witnesses and the apartment building where he once lived and complete a sex offender assessment, Tucker’s office said.