Bristol Man Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Federal Prison for Child Exploitation Offense

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that on December 3, 2021, DAVID MESSIER, 36, of Bristol, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 75 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for receiving child pornography over a mobile dating application.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in July 2017, Messier began communicating with Amber Foley on MeetMe, a mobile dating application.  After Messier and Foley exchanged several messages in which they described various sexual acts, Foley asked Messier what he would do if a child walked into the room while she and Messier were having sex.  Foley then sent Messier a lascivious picture of the genitals of four-year-old female. Messier responded positively to the picture and requested additional sexually explicit photographs of the female child and a two-year-old male.

Messier was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on February 27, 2019.  On October 31, 2019, he pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography.

Messier, who is released on a $150,000 bond, is required to report to prison on January 28, 2022.

Foley, formerly of Meriden, pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography and, on September 8, 2021, was sentenced to 90 months of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Meriden and Hartford Police Departments, with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nancy V. Gifford and Maria del Pilar Gonzalez.

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.