New York Man Charged with Child Exploitation Offenses, Including Traveling to Connecticut to Engage in Sexual Activity with a Minor

Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New England, announced that JAMES PAGLIARO, 26, of Middletown, New York, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with multiple child exploitation offenses, including traveling to Connecticut to engage in sexual activity with a minor.

Pagliaro appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti in Bridgeport and was ordered detained.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, in approximately October 2024, Pagliaro began messaging a 15-year-girl (“minor victim”) on TikTok.  In December 2024, the minor victim told Pagliaro that she was 15 years old, and they began text messaging.  In January 2025, Pagliaro traveled to Connecticut multiple times to engage in sexual conduct with the minor victim.

It is further alleged that in February 2025, a forensic examination of the minor victim’s iPhone revealed hundreds of sexually explicit images and videos of the minor victim, and more than 11,000 text messages and more than 300 iOS and FaceTime calls between Pagliaro and the minor victim.  In the messages, Pagliaro instructed the minor victim to perform specific sex acts, including sadistic and masochistic conduct.  Pagliaro also frequently referenced the minor victim’s age, acknowledging that what he was doing was “illegal”; referred to the minor victim as his “slave” and had her send him a “slavery contract”; berated and punished the minor victim when she failed to accurately and precisely follow his instructions; and asked the minor victim to recruit other minors to engage in sexual conduct with him.

The complaint charges Pagliaro 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 of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life; traveling to engage in sexual activity with a minor, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years; and transfer of obscene material to a minor, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

Acting U.S. Attorney Silverman 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 New England, HSI New York, the Orange County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Office, and the Danbury, Ridgefield, and Watertown Police Departments.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Gordon

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.