Bolton Resident Charged with Child Exploitation Offenses

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New England, and Vernon Police Chief Marc Petruzzi today announced that RICHARD BURRIS, 22, of Bolton, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with child exploitation offenses.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, in September 2025, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) made a CyberTipline report to the Vernon Police Department involving a child exploitation video that was shared via the Kik messenger application on September 7, 2025, using an IP address subscribed to a restaurant in Vernon.  The report also relayed that the same IP address was connected to a CyberTip submitted by the X social media platform involving a child exploitation video shared using the platform on March 20, 2025.  An investigation determined that Burris was the only employee of the restaurant who worked on both of those dates.

It is further alleged that on December 12, 2025, investigators executed a state search warrant at Burris’s residence and seized his iPhone and other items.  Preliminary analysis of the phone revealed numerous child sex abuse images and videos, including images and videos that Burris recorded of a prepubescent minor victim.  Investigators also accessed Burris’s Telegram account, which he used to share child sex abuse images and videos with another Telegram user.

Burris was arrested on December 19.  He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Robert A. Richardson in Hartford and was ordered detained.

The complaint charges Burris with production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of 30 years of imprisonment; receipt and distribution of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; and possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan 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 investigation is being conducted by HSI and the Vernon Police Department, which the assistance of the Connecticut State Police, the Connecticut Center for Digital Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.

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.