Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Child Pornography

A Connecticut man has been sentenced to 186 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for producing child pornography.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced the sentencing of DANIEL JESSE CONRAD, 32, formerly of New Hartford, after he pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between October 2013 and June 2014, CONRAD sexually exploited three different minor females.

CONRAD met one of the minor females in February 2014 through Omegle, an internet video chatting service. The minor was 15 years old at the time and lived in Connecticut.

After their initial conversation, CONRAD and the minor female began communicating regularly through the Kik text messaging and photo sharing application on their cell phones. On March 1, 2014, the two met in person, and CONRAD drove the minor to Massachusetts where they engaged in sexual activity.

Subsequently, on five or six occasions between March and June 2014, CONRAD picked up the minor and drove her to his residence in Connecticut where they engaged in sexual intercourse.

In addition to meeting the minor in person, CONRAD had several online video conversations with the minor over Skype and Omegle. During some of these video conversations, the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, which CONRAD recorded and saved on his computer.

CONRAD also repeatedly persuaded the minor to take sexually explicit pictures of herself at her home and send them to him via Kik. CONRAD similarly communicated with two other minors, who were also 15 years old at the time, over Skype and Omegle.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Connecticut State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel. This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.