Judge: Child porn suspect can't leave state
Apr. 7—NEWBURYPORT — An attorney for a Boston man charged with sending nearly a dozen images and videos of what appear to be child pornography to an undercover police officer asked a judge on Tuesday to allow his client to undergo treatment related to the offenses in a different state.
Julien Toulotte, 22, of Arlington Street pleaded not guilty last month in Ipswich District Court in Newburyport to five counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor, four counts of sending unsolicited sexual images to a child, and two counts of disseminating images of a child in sexual conduct.
Judge Peter Doyle, sitting in the Newburyport courthouse where the Ipswich court is based, set bail at $20,000 and ordered Toulotte to surrender his French and American passports, and to not leave the state. Toulotte posted the bail and surrendered his passports.
On Tuesday, Toulotte's attorney, Peter Elikann, asked Doyle if his client could be admitted to a behavior health center in Chester, Pennsylvania, for treatment because it offered services not available in Massachusetts.
"I would argue this is in the interest of public safety," Elikann said.
Essex County prosecutor Shailagh Kennedy objected to the request, saying Toulotte could face more charges and may be indicted by a Salem Superior Court grand jury in the near future. She also said the court's probation department would have difficulty overseeing Toulotte in another state.
Doyle said he shared some of Kennedy's concerns and denied the motion. Toulotte's next court appearance is scheduled for April 22.
In January, an Ipswich woman went to police to report that the man she met through the dating site Tinder told her that he liked "age play" and asked her to act like a young girl if, and when they met, according to a police report filed in the case by Ipswich police Detective Peter Dziadose.
The man went on to tell her he would be babysitting an 8-year-old girl in the near future, then sent her a sexually graphic photo of a young girl, police said.
The woman was able to provide police with details of the man's social media accounts on Snapchat, Instagram and Flickr. The undercover officer then used that information to pose as a 15-year-old girl.
Over the next several weeks, Toulotte allegedly told the undercover officer that he was "down for anything," engaged in what he said was a game of "truth or dare," and proposing that the "girl" take a train to Ipswich on a weekend he was planning to be there — sending photos of his genitals at one point, according to the report.
While the investigation was taking place, the Ipswich woman who reported Toulotte told police she received a new friend request from him on Snapchat. The undercover officer began posing as the woman as well.
In online conversations, Toulotte told the undercover officer that he would be babysitting two young children in Ipswich and invited "her" to join him, Dziadose wrote. Toulotte allegedly sent a Tiktok video of a child.
Police, with that limited information, attempted to find the children, but could not identify anyone fitting the description and family details Toulotte gave in messages.
They were able to confirm other details, however, including the fact that he was in Ipswich on Feb. 6 and that he lived in Boston, as he had said in the messages. They obtained an arrest warrant.
Police also said Toulotte has a history of similar conduct.
Staff writer Julie Manganis contributed to this report.
