John H. Durham. United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JEFFREY L. BACON, 61, of Bristol, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before to one count of soliciting child pornography.
Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the court proceeding before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez occurred via videoconference.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in October 2018, Bacon began communicating with a 15-year-old girl through the Kik messaging application after he had met the girl in a Kik chat group for teens. Knowing that he was communicating with a minor, Bacon sent the girl sexually explicit pictures of himself and described various sexual acts that he wanted to engage in with the girl. The girl told her mother who reported the communications to the police.
On October 30, 2018, a law enforcement officer assumed the girl’s Kik identity to continue to correspond with Bacon. Bacon asked the undercover officer, who was posing as the girl, to remind Bacon of her age. The officer responded with “15.” From October 30 to November 1, Bacon repeatedly sent sexually explicit pictures and videos of himself to the undercover officer. Bacon also requested sexually explicit pictures in return. During their conversations, Bacon asked the undercover officer if he could pick her up from school so he could see her. Bacon suggested they could go to the mall where the girl could try on clothes while Bacon watched and engaged in a sexual act. Bacon also discussed going to a motel with the girl to engage in sexual acts with her.
On November 19, 2018, Bacon was arrested on related state charges. During a subsequent forensic examination of Bacon’s laptop computer, investigators found images of child pornography, including images depicting prepubescent females engaged in sexual acts with adults.
Bacon was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on July 26, 2019.
Bacon is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on March 3, 2021, at which time he faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. He is released on a $100,000 bond and is under electronic monitoring pending sentencing.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Enfield Police Department. The case is being 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.
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