Naugatuck Man Charged with Child Exploitation Offenses

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and P.J. O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that SEAN SAYER, 22, of Naugatuck, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with child exploitation offenses.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, on March 20, 2025, an eight-year-old boy (“the minor victim”) in Oregon contacted Sayer by text message and asked Sayer if he was @fornight_legends on TikTok.  Sayer responded affirmatively and, over the next three days, exchanged with the minor victim more than 1,300 messages in which Sayer repeatedly and aggressively demanded sexually explicit images and videos of the minor victim in exchange for playing Fortnite with him online.  The minor victim sent Sayer at least 15 videos constituting child sexual abuse material or child pornography.

Sayer was arrested on June 18, 2025.  It is alleged that a preliminary forensic review of Sayer’s cellphone has revealed screenshots of Snapchat conversations Sayer had with dozens of additional minor victims who Sayer coerced or enticed to send him sexually explicit photos of themselves.

Sayer appeared today for a bond hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia in New Haven.  He was released on a $150,000 bond into home detention with location monitoring, and is prohibited from accessing the internet and communicating with, and having contact with, minors.

The complaint charges Sayer 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; coercion and enticement of a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life; receipt of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and transfer of obscene material to a minor, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 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 the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, with the assistance of the Eugene (Ore.) Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary G. Vitale.

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.