Jury sees pornographic photos of girl at Colts Neck tennis instructor's sex trial

FREEHOLD The series of photographs started out innocently enough, with images of a young girl seated at a table in a restaurant.

But it progressed into a string of pornography depicting female genitalia, at times manipulated by a third party's hand.

Shown in some of the indecent photographs was what appeared to be the same clothing worn by the girl pictured in the restaurant, and the same pink cellphone she had been holding there, a detective testified Friday.

The images were displayed on a large-screen television before a Monmouth County jury at the trial of Terry Kuo, 32, of Colts Neck.

Detective  Sgt. John Sosdion of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's High-Tech Crimes Bureau told the jury the girl in the series of photographs is the same person who in November 2017 accused Kuo, her tennis coach, of sexually assaulting her.

Prosecutors allege the girl was 12 and 13 years old when the sexual assaults occurred and the pornographic photographs of her were taken by Kuo.

Kuo is on trial before Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O'Malley, charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, causing or permitting a child to engage in pornography, manufacturing child pornography, possessing child pornography, obscenity, endangering the welfare of a child and conspiring to tamper with evidence.

He stood trial on the same charges over the summer, but O'Malley declared a mistrial Aug. 4  after the jury deliberated for more than a week without being able to reach a unanimous verdict.

It was the second mistrial in the case. Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley declared the first mistrial in February after Kuo urinated in front of a panel of prospective jurors during jury selection.

Testifying Friday about the series of photographs taken within seconds of each other on Oct. 24, 2017, Sosdion said they were all found on one of Kuo's computers after it was seized from his sister's Jersey City apartment in February 2018.

Unlike at the trial over the summer, Sosdion this time told the jury the latitude and longitude of the locations at which the photographs were taken and then identified those locations on a map.

The pictures showing the girl in a restaurant were taken at Konbu, a restaurant on Center Drive in Manalapan, Sosdion said.

The pornographic photos were taken at the snack bar and a vehicle believed to be Kuo's black Mercedes, both at the Marlboro Swim Club, the detective testified.

Kuo's accuser testified in July at the prior trial that he sexually assaulted her and took pornographic photos of her at the swim club in 2017.

As she displayed the photos on the large screen, Kristen Anastos, an assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, asked Sosdion to describe what they depicted.

In one of the photos, Sosdion noted there was another person's hand that was "spreading apart the person's buttocks."

In another, a hand was "digitally manipulating the vagina," and on others, a hand was holding up the girl's leg, Sosdion said.

In one of the photos taken in the car, a left hand was pictured on the girl's buttocks, the witness testified. Beneath the knuckle on that hand was what appeared to be a scar, he said.

Following Sosdion on the witness stand was Detective Stephen Vogt of the prosecutor's crime scene unit, who testified that he had been assigned to photograph Kuo's hands, and the pictures he took of Kuo's left hand showed a scar on it, as well as what appeared to be a birthmark or freckle.

Sosdion also testified that he found a document entitled "How to Practice Child Love," which had been downloaded onto Kuo's computer in 2013.

Reading from the document, Sosdion said, "This guide will teach you in detail how to engage in a safe and harmless sexual relationship with a child."

Being questioned by Anastos, Sosdian acknowledged that the manual recommended first gaining a child's trust before building up to what it said were five milestones.

Those five milestones, in order, were fondling the child's buttocks and anus, observing the child's vagina, spreading the child's legs to better view the vagina and, finally digitally and orally manipulating the child's vagina, Sosdian acknowledged.

The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Porn shots of girl shown at Colts Neck tennis instructor's sex trial