Man sentenced for sending obscene matter to officer
Aug. 3—NEWBURY — A homeless man in custody since his arrest in January for sending obscene matter online to who he thought was a 14-year-old girl but turned out to be a local undercover police officer was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years in jail.
Troy Drew, 33, last known to be living in his car in southern New Hampshire, saw all but nine months of his sentence suspended for three years in Newburyport District Court as a result of his guilty plea to that charge and also distributing obscene matter.
Judge Peter Doyle ordered Drew to register as a sex offender, not to have any unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 years old, and to undergo a sex offender evaluation. Doyle also gave Drew credit for 186 days already served behind bars.
Drew began chatting with an undercover Newbury police officer in early December on the app Kik. Drew was in a chat area known to attract people looking to connect with young girls.
The undercover officer and Drew moved their chats to online Google hangouts and began to discuss sexual topics.
Eventually, a Haverhill police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl joined the conversation. At one point, Drew told the officers he would like to have sex with both of them at the same time. During the conversations, Drew sent an obscene photo of himself to the Newbury officer.
Based on the photo and the chats, both departments charged Drew and issued warrants for his arrest, according to court records.
The Haverhill matter has yet to be resolved.
Staff writer Dave Rogers can be reached at drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
