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Nashua man pleads ‘no contest’

Local charged with child sex abuse image possession

By Dean Shalhoup - Senior Staff Writer | Feb 5, 2019

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Robert Catanzano Jr., right, enters pleas of nolo contendere to 10 charges of possession of child sexual abuse images at his plea and sentencing hearing Monday. With him is his attorney, Charles Keefe.

NASHUA – About a month ago, just before a scheduled hearing on his motion to suppress evidence in his child sex abuse image possession case, Nashua resident Robert Catanzano Jr. came forward and proposed a plea agreement to prosecutors.

After pondering their options, Assistant County Attorney Nicole Thorspecken said in court Monday, police who investigated the case and arrested Catanzano almost exactly a year ago voiced their support for the proposed agreement, which set the stage for Monday’s hearing in Hillsborough County Superior Court-South.

Catanzano, 57, most recent address of 5 Westhill Drive, entered pleas of “nolo contendere” to each of the 10 felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse images filed against him upon his Feb. 2, 2018 arrest.

A plea of “nolo contendere,” also referred to as “no contest,” means the defendant does not wish to contend the charges, but also indicates he or she is not admitting guilt to the charges.

Judge Charles Temple accepted Catanzano’s nolo contendere pleas, and entered findings of guilty to each of the charges.

Temple also accepted the terms of the agreement as negotiated by Thorspecken and Catanzano’s attorney, Charles Keefe.

Those include a State Prison sentence of two to four years, all deferred for one year, then suspended for two additional years. Catanzano must submit to a psycho-sexual evaluation, cannot have any unsupervised contact with anyone under age 18, and is required to forfeit to authorities a laptop and a hard drive, two of the several devices involved in the investigation.

He is also ordered to participate in any counseling, treatment or educational programs as recommended over the duration of his deferred and suspended sentences.

According to Thorspecken, police launched an investigation into online child sexual abuse images in May 2017. Some time later, authorities got a “cyber tip” from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which directed investigators to an IP address listed to Catanzano, she said.

Later, members of the Nashua Police Special Investigations Division, along with the department’s Computer Forensics Unit, patrol officers and Homeland Security Investigations personnel, executed a search warrant at Catanzano’s Westhill Drive residence, Thorspecken said.

They seized several electronic devices as evidence, and took Catanzano into custody. They initially charged him with five counts of possession of child sexual abuse images. Thorspecken said she later brought the other five counts against him.

Noting Catanzano has no criminal history, Thorspecken said she agreed to the plea deal “rather than going through a suppression hearing” and possibly putting the state’s case at risk.

“I decided it was best to go forward with the plea agreement,” Thorspecken told the court. “I believe this is an appropriate resolution.”

Catanzano, who on Monday wore headphones connected to an amplification device to compensate for an apparent hearing problem, chose not to address the court.

Keefe, however, lamented the unwanted attention his client received when his case became public.

“Even the mere accusations in this case had consequences outside of the courtroom for Mr. Catanzano,” Keefe said.

While the case was pending, Keefe added, “there was a drive-by shooting” near Catanzano’s residence. “We believe it was related to this case,” he said.

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