Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TIMOTHY J. ALLEN, 36, of Torrington, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello in Hartford to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for possessing child pornography.
According to court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from “Operation Pacifier," an FBI investigation into Playpen, a global online forum through which registered users advertised, distributed and accessed child pornography. On Feb. 20, 2015, the FBI seized a computer server hosting Playpen from a webhosting facility in North Carolina. Pursuant to a federal court order in the Eastern District of Virginia, the website operated under FBI supervision February 20 to March 4, 2015. During that time, the FBI collected information to identify members of Playpen.
Playpen had more than 150,000 members who created and viewed tens of thousands of postings related to child pornography. Images and videos shared through the site were highly categorized according to victim age and gender, as well as the type of sexual activity. The site also included discussion forums that included tips for grooming victims and avoiding detection.
The FBI determined that a user name connected to an IP address operating at ALLEN’s Torrington residence had accessed Playpen for approximately 34 hours during the monitoring period. Investigators subsequently searched ALLEN’s residence and seized several devices that ALLEN used to view child pornography. Forensic analysis of the devices revealed more than 4,000 images of child pornography, including images and videos of prepubescent minors, as well as more than 60 voyeurism videos.
ALLEN was arrested on Sept. 2, 2015. On June 7, 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
ALLEN, who is released on a $50,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on Oct. 17, 2017.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacabed Rodriguez-Coss.
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, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
