Danvers man arrested for possession of child pornography found in hidden room of his apartment

A Danvers man was arrested for allegedly possessing hundreds of images of child pornography Thursday found in a hidden room in his apartment by a contractor doing renovations on a bathroom, the Essex district attorney’s office said.

Mark Ternullo, 68, was arraigned on one count of possession of child pornography in Salem District Court, the office said in a statement.

Bail was set at $10,000. If he posts that, Ternullo must remain in house arrest, with a GPS monitoring device, have no contact with children under age 18 and stay off the Internet, the statement said.

Ternullo will have a pre-trial conference on March 7, 2022, the office said.

Danvers police obtained a search warrant and secured Ternullo’s apartment after receiving a call on Wednesday from the property owner, who said the contractor hired to renovate the bathroom discovered multiple boxes of pornographic images of children, the statement said.

The boxes were hidden in a room behind a wall by the bathtub that had to be removed due to extensive water damage, the statement said.

Ternullo lived in the apartment for about 23 years, prosecutors said.