NEW ROCHELLE – A New Rochelle police officer has been suspended after
he was arrested Tuesday on charges that he sent a video of himself in a
sexual situation to an undercover investigator who was posing as a
15-year-old girl.Police Officer Matthew
Melillo, 31, was suspended without pay from his $63,391 per year job for
30 days following his arrest, New Rochelle Police Commissioner Patrick
Carroll said today.Melillo, who joined for force July 31, 2010, was assigned to patrol forces, Commissioner Carroll said."I
am shocked and disappointed if these allegations are true," Carroll
said. "It is disheartening for all of us. We pride ourselves in our
professionalism."New Rochelle police were informed yesterday by the district attorney's office that Melillo was arrested."It is not our investigation," New Rochelle Detective Captain Joseph Schaller said.Prior to his arrest, Melillo had not been involved in any misconduct on or off duty, New Rochelle police said.Melillo
was charged with attempted disseminating indecent material to a minor, a
felony. Prosecutors said that between Aug. 3 and Aug. 29, Melillo
chatted online with an undercover investigator from the estchester
County District Attorney's Office.Prosecutors did not know that they were talking to a cop at the time, according to New Rochelle police.Melillo
discussed a series of "specific sexual acts" with the investigator, as
well as sending the video, which prosecutors said showed a man
masturbating.Melillo,
31, pleaded not guilty today before New Rochelle City Court Judge
Barbara Leak. through his lawyer, a New Rochelle PBA attorney.Neither
Melillo, who entered the courtroom wearing a light blue T-shirt, gray
shorts and sandals, nor his attorney would comment following the brief
court appearance.Investigators
say Melillo discussed a series of “specific sexual acts” with the
investigator, who posed as a 15-year-old girl. He was arrested Tuesday
and arraigned later in the evening in White Plains City Court. Free on
$1,000 bail, Melillo is due back in court Sept. 26.Melillo
graduated from the Westchester County Police Academy in December 2010.
He was a Community Service Officer for the New Rochelle police
department for six years – from 2004 to 2010 – before he became a police
officer.

Story here