Gregory Butts, a 51-year-old man from Sprague, Connecticut, has been charged with child exploitation offenses and making interstate threats, according to a recent federal complaint.
The charges, which were announced by Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and David Sundberg, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, include possession of child pornography, attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, and making an interstate threat to injure.
Butts appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford, Connecticut, and has been detained since March 4, 2022, when he was arrested for violating his state probation.
According to the complaint, in November 2020, family and friends of two missing juveniles in Colorado posted information about the missing juveniles on social media pages and included a phone number asking the public to call with information. Butts, with his own phone number blocked, called the number and spoke to a female friend of the missing juveniles, who recorded the conversation.
Butts stated that he was with the missing juveniles and had had sexual contact with them. He threatened to harm the missing juveniles if the conversation were recorded or if law enforcement were contacted, and threatened the female friend who answered the phone. He then said that he would return the missing juveniles if the female friend would have sexual intercourse with him.
Shortly after the juveniles had been reported missing, they returned home. They were not harmed and had not been kidnapped. Investigators determined that the call emanated from a lightly-populated area in Sprague, Connecticut, and that Butts was a registered sex offender living in the area who was on probation following a state conviction for illegal sexual contact with a minor.
A search of Butts’ residence and another residence where he also had been staying revealed thousands of images and videos of child pornography, as well as downloaded conversations Butts had on Snapchat with minors. In the chats, Butts engaged in sexually explicit conversations, made numerous threats, and demanded, and sometimes received, sexually explicit photos.
The complaint charges Butts with possession of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life; and making an interstate threat to injure, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.
U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Related Federal Cases
- Scot Letourneau, Child Porn Distribution, MA 2017 · Connecticut
- William Mayo, Conspiracy to Promote Prostitution, Connecticut 2024 · Connecticut
- David Anthony Roesener, Child Pornography, Colorado 2013 · Connecticut
- Sharee Ewudzi-Acquah, Child Pornography Distribution, Colorado 2016 · Connecticut
- Rhiannon Carnahan, Child Pornography, Colorado 2017 · Idaho
Key Facts
- State: Connecticut
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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