Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DANIEL JESSE CONRAD, 31, of New Hartford, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford 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. On five or six occasions between March and June 2014, CONRAD picked up the minor and drove her to his residence where they engaged in sexual intercourse. During some of the encounters, CONRAD used his iPhone to take videos and pictures of the minor engaged in sexual activity.
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 met the two other minors, who were also 15 years old at the time, over Omegle. One of the minors lived in New York and the other minor lived in Nebraska. As with the first victim, CONRAD had several online video conversations with the minors over Skype and Omegle. During several of the video conversations, CONRAD persuaded them to engage in sexually explicit conduct, which CONRAD recorded and saved on his computer. CONRAD also repeatedly persuaded the minors to take sexually explicit pictures of themselves at their homes and send them to him via Kik.
In total, CONRAD had saved on his computer and iPhone approximately 200 images and 52 videos of the three minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
CONRAD is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on Aug. 17, 2016, at which time CONRAD faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years, a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years and a fine of up to $250,000.
Since his arrest on Sept. 10, 2015, CONRAD has been released on bond and placed on electronic monitoring.
This matter is being investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Connecticut State Police. 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
