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Press Release

Waterbury Man Charged With Enticing Minor He Met At Church

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MIGUEL TORRES, 44, of Waterbury, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with enticing and attempting to entice a minor female to send him sexually explicit videos of herself and to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

According to the criminal complaint, TORRES met a minor female at the church they both attended.  TORRES offered to mentor the minor, gave her his cell phone number, and they began communicating via text messages.  In late June 2013, when the minor was 14 years old, TORRES began to ask the minor to send him sexually explicit videos and pictures.  Their text message conversations became sexually explicit, and TORRES persuaded the minor to take sexually explicit videos and pictures of herself and send them to him.  TORRES also sent the minor sexually explicit videos and pictures of himself, and he told her that he had engaged in sexual conduct with other girls so that the minor would be comfortable with it.  In August 2013, TORRES and the minor discussed getting together to engage in sexual activity.

On August 30, 2013, TORRES was arrested on related state charges.  A forensic examination of TORRES’s cell phone revealed several videos of the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

TORRES has been detained since his state arrest.  Today, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport, who ordered TORRES detained.

If convicted of the federal enticement charge, TORRES faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life. 

U.S. Attorney Daly stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Waterbury Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.  The Connecticut State’s Attorney’s Office in Waterbury is also providing critical assistance in this investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles L. Rombeau.

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.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:

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

Updated March 18, 2015