Waterbury Man Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Enticing Minors to Engage in Sexual Activity on Skype

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN EASTMAN, 50, of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 204 months of imprisonment, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for enticing minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct during online video chats.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between June and November 2012, EASTMAN engaged in video chats with minors over the internet using his computer and online video chatting services such as Skype.  During these video chats, EASTMAN enticed the minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct, which EASTMAN recorded or photographed and then saved on his computer.  In order to deceive and entice the minors, EASTMAN posed as famous singers and musicians that are popular to teenagers.

As an example, in November 2012, EASTMAN used the screen name justin.bieber727 to communicate via Skype with a female who was under the age of 18.  During the video chat, EASTMAN asked the minor to expose herself and pose in a sexually explicit manner.  EASTMAN then saved on his computer a still image of the female exposing herself.

EASTMAN has been detained since his arrest on related state charges in May 2013.  On March 2, 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of use of an interstate facility to persuade a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

EASTMAN’s criminal history includes 31 convictions, including convictions for attempted sexual assault in the fourth degree and risk of injury to a minor relating to inappropriate contact he had with a nine-year-old girl approximately 20 years ago.  As a result of these convictions, he was placed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Waterbury Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.

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.