Bridgeport Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Offense

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL NASTU, 63, of Bridgeport, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford to a child exploitation offense.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2021, Nastu, using the Kik social media application, initiated a chat with an FBI Online Covert Employee who was posing as a 14-year-old girl from Connecticut.  Between March 31 and June 25, 2021, Nastu sent the OCE sexually explicit messages and several pictures and videos of male genitalia, and he attempted to entice the OCE to send him child pornography in return.  Although they had multiple text exchanges about meeting in person, Nastu never travelled to meet the OCE.

Nastu pleaded guilty to one count of attempted transfer of obscene materials to a minor, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

Nastu was arrested on a criminal complaint on June 30, 2021.  He is released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing, which is not scheduled.

This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda S. Oakes and Nancy V. Gifford through 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.