Indictment Charges Former Morris Resident with Child Exploitation Offenses

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Boston, today announced that a federal grand jury in New Haven has returned an indictment charging KEVIN CURLEY, 40, formerly of Morris, with receipt of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

The indictment was returned on December 7, 2021.  Curley appeared yesterday via videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, “Tor,” which is an acronym for “The Onion Router,” is a worldwide network of internet-connected computers that is designed to conceal the true IP addresses of the computers on the network and the identities of the network’s users.  In 2020, HSI began investigating Curley for his involvement in an online community of individuals who sent and received child pornography images and videos via a hidden service website that operated on the Tor network.  On August 5, 2020, investigators conducted a court-authorized search of Curley’s former residence in Morris and seized Curley’s desktop computer.  Analysis of the seized computer revealed hundreds of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

If convicted of the charge of receipt of child pornography, Curley faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.  The charge of possession of child pornography carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

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

Curley was originally arrested on a federal criminal complaint on October 8, 2020.  He is released on a $150,000 bond and residing in Naugatuck while awaiting trial.

This matter is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren C. Clark.

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.