Sheriff: Church Bell Ringer Who Played On Celine Dion CD Caught With Child Porn
Brian Tricoli, 49, of Hawthorne “self-reported a computer issue that he believed was related to possible child pornography that was stored on his computer,” Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said.
Tricoli "turned over his computer and phone to detectives at that time and was suspended with pay on June 12 while detectives continued the investigation,” Berdnik said.
“Detectives using several tools available to law enforcement, were able to recover 79 files of child pornography from a cloud-based storage provide,” the sheriff said.
Berdnik’s Internet Crime Unit investigators also connected Tricoli to a tip provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, he said.
The sheriff said he suspended Tricoli without pay from the $52,653-a-year security guard position following his arrest Tuesday.
A certified EMT and former ambulance corps member, Tricoli has also cultivated a reputation as a handbell ringer as a soloist and in church choirs for more than 25 years.
Tricoli handled bass bells for many years with the Ridgewood United Methodist Church’s Rainbow Ringers, who recorded background music for a Celine Dion Christmas album and produced two CDs of their own, according to his online bio.
He also performed with The Youth Ringers, which he said toured nearly every state east of the Mississippi River.
In 2003, Tricoli and Christine Braden created the Jersey Jubilation Handbell Choir. In 2012, he became a soloist.
Tricoli has continued to perform alone and with both the Jersey Jubilation group and the Westminsters at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, among other ensembles, his bio says.
He's also performed recently at the First Congregational Church of River Edge, the First Reformed Church in New Brunswick, the Waterloo Village United Methodist Church, the Packanack Community Church in Wayne, the High Mountain Presbyterian Church in Franklin Lakes, the Convent of St. John the Baptist in Mendham and the Second Reformed Church of Hackensack.
Sheriff’s detectives who arrested Tricoli on Tuesday charged him with possessing and distributing child pornography and maintaining the images in a file-sharing program.
He remained held Thursday in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson.
“I want to commend and thank the detectives involved in this investigation,” Berdnik said following the arrest.
He specifically thanked Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes for assistance from members of her Sexual Investigations Unit.
The sheriff emphasized that he and his staff have “no tolerance for anyone who allegedly exploits children in a sexual manner.”
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