41-year-old Massachusetts man arrested for a crime against a child after months-long investigation

A Massachusetts man is accused of a disturbing charge.

According to police, on Monday, Kingston PD Detectives, with an arrest warrant in hand, traveled to Columbus Avenue in the South End of Boston where they located and arrested 41-year-old Joseph Cassio.

Cassio was arrested for the felony crime of Posing or Exhibiting Child in State of Nudity or Sexual Conduct. Detectives then transported Cassio back to Kingston PD and to Plymouth District Court where he was ordered held on bail.

The allegations include that Cassio solicited nude photographs from a juvenile he knew was 16 years old. Additionally, it is alleged through messages that Cassio engaged in additional sexualized conversation with the victim and informed the victim that Cassio would go for children as young as 14.

The case came to the attention of authorities when the victim reached out to his School Resource Officer at SLRHS, confiding in the SRO about what had occurred.

PD noted, “if not for the SRO program and the strong work of our SROs to build relationships, we may have never found out about this crime and potentially other children would have been victimized. We are thankful the victim in this case had the courage to speak with officers.”

The department credited advanced training.

“Modern criminals utilize modern technology, often to evade capture and delete evidence. This applies to nearly all types of crime. As criminals advance, so must law enforcement. We did not know the offender’s identity. He was going by a pseudonym. We were able to obtain photographs of the defendant’s face and then sought and were granted a court order to conduct a facial recognition search. The search was conducted against an available database and a hit was obtained, initially identifying Cassio. Then, additional investigatory steps including advanced database searches, conversations with partner agencies and the use of location information obtained from a social media application, confirmed Cassio was the offender. If not for the training received, knowledge of these processes, and doing so in a legally permissible manner, Cassio may have never been identified and charged.”

The investigation took nearly three months to complete.

PD stated that this arrest serves as a reminder.

“This is just one of unfortunately many similar investigations we do. Offenders aren’t just on the newest show you are streaming or in a city far away. They are here and able to contact your children. This could be as simple as an “add friend” on a social media application followed by a short train ride to meet up. Be aware, have conversations about safe internet use, and encourage contacting the police when something doesn’t seem right.”

As of this time, Cassio remains in custody pending his next court hearing in August.