United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

Project Safe Childhood: FORMER CONNECTICUT RESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, SEXUAL TOURISM OFFENSES

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations office in Boston, announced that EDGARDO SENSI, 53, last residing in Jensen Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Warren W. Eginton in Bridgeport to child pornography and sexual tourism offenses related to his sexual abuse of minor girls in the United States and Nicaragua.

On April 2, 2009, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging SENSI with one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography, one count of production of child pornography, one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct outside of the United States, and one count of production of child pornography outside of the United States.  A trial in this matter was scheduled to begin on July 14.  Today, SENSI pleaded guilty to all four counts with which he was charged.

“This defendant cruelly and repeatedly victimized young girls in this country and abroad, and we intend to advocate for a sentence that will ensure that he never has the opportunity to do so again,” stated U.S. Attorney Fein.  “I want to recognize ICE, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and all of our law enforcement partners who have investigated this matter so effectively.  They identified and located  victims and helped to remove a child predator from society.”

U.S. Attorney Fein added that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut is committed to devoting resources to investigate and prosecute child exploitation and sexual tourism crimes.

“The exploitation of children remains a top ICE priority,” said ICE Special Agent in Charge Foucart.  “ICE will continue working with our many law enforcement partners and use all of its law enforcement capabilities to investigate, arrest and bring these criminals to justice wherever they travel.”

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately 2001 to 2004, while he was a resident of Connecticut, SENSI conspired with a woman to coerce a minor victim girl, who was eight-years-old at the time, to engage in sexually explicit conduct.  SENSI encouraged the victim girl to be filmed while SENSI and the woman engaged her in sexually explicit conduct, engaged in a lengthy grooming process that involved trickery and desensitizing the victim to accept the sexual abuse that she was subjected to, and enticed the victim girl to engage in sado-masochistic sex acts.

In addition, in 2004 and 2005, SENSI made several trips to Nicaragua.  In January 2004, while in Nicaragua, SENSI befriended a woman who was approximately 23-years-old and working as a maid.  SENSI persuaded the woman to permit him to have access to her four-year-old daughter by providing her with benefits such as cash, a gold ring and perfume.  SENSI also utilized luxury hotel rooms in Managua to engage in sex acts with the woman, and also discussed with her family his intention to marry her and provide financially for her.  Through this coercion, SENSI had illicit sexual contact with the woman’s four-year-old daughter.  SENSI also videotaped sex sessions that included both the 23-year-old woman and her victim daughter.

Judge Eginton has scheduled sentencing for September 24, 2010, at which time SENSI faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of 95 years of imprisonment.  The Government believes that the applicable term of incarceration under the federal sentencing guidelines is 95 years.

SENSI has been incarcerated since December 10, 2008, when he was arrested by the Martin County (FL) Sheriff’s Office on State of Florida possession of child pornography charges.

This matter has been investigated by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) in New Haven, with the assistance of ICE in Atlanta and Fort Pierce (FL), the ICE attaché office in Panama and ICE International Affairs in Washington, DC; the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Regional Security Office, Managua; the Martin County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, the Jones County (GA) Sheriff’s Office, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

U.S. Attorney Fein also acknowledged the critical assistance provided by the Special Crimes Unit within the Criminal Investigative Division of the Nicaraguan National Police.

This case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney David B. Fein and Assistant United States Attorney Krishna R. Patel.

This prosecution is part of the United States Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov