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NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. A New Rochelle Police Officer was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he engaged in sexually explicit online chats with an investigator posing as a 15 year-old girl, the Westchester County District Attorneys Office said.
Matthew Melillo, 31, was charged with attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, a felony. Melillo allegedly engaged in a series of Internet chats with an undercover investigator between Aug. 3 and Aug. 29, the district attorney's office said.
The undercover investigator made it clear that she was a 15-year-old girl, the districts attorney office said. Melillo allegedly discussed specific sexual acts he would have with the "girl" during the chats, according to the district attorney's office.
The police officer also sent a video he claimed to be of himself in a sexual situation while he was chatting with the investigator, the district attorney's office said.
Melillo, who was arrested Tuesday, faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted. He was arraigned by a White Plains City Court Judge Tuesday night and bail was set at $1,000.
Melillo has been employed by the New Rochelle Police Department since 2004 and has been a police officer from July 2010 to the present, the department said.
Prior to this incident, the department has never received any reports of misconduct involving Officer Melillo either on duty or off of duty; nor has the department ever received information, otherwise to lead it to suspect Officer Melillo of engaging in any misconduct, the department said in a statement.
Melillo is suspended from the department pending an investigation into the incident, the department said.
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