Convicted Connecticut Child Sex Offender Pleads Guilty To Attempting To Entice And Use An 11-Year-Old Child In Florida To Produce Photos Of Her Own Sexual Abuse

Jacksonville, Florida – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announces that Andrew Thomas Bull (37, Tolland, CT), also known as Andrew Thomas Picard, has pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing photos of her own sexual abuse. Bull faces a minimum sentence of 25 years, up to 50 years, in federal prison and a possible lifetime term of supervised release. Bull was convicted of importation and illegal possession of child pornography in 2013 in Connecticut. On May 25, 2023, FBI agents arrested Bull at his home in Connecticut. He was later transported to Jacksonville for prosecution. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2025. 

According to court documents, on November 15, 2022, an FBI agent (UC) in the Jacksonville area was conducting an online undercover operation to identify adults seeking to meet and engage in sexual activity with children. The UC posted a text message in a public chatroom on a social media application (app) indicating that the UC had access to an 11-year-old “child.” Later that same day, user “brdr1066,” subsequently identified as Bull, contacted the UC directly using the app’s private online text messaging feature. Bull asked the UC to confirm the age and sexual experience of the “child.” Bull sent the UC explicit photos of himself to show to the “child.” During text conversations on the app between November 2022 and May 2023, Bull confirmed his desire to have sex with the “child,” and he sent the UC photos depicting young children being sexually abused. Bull solicited the UC to take and send to Bull explicit photos of the “child.” 

On May 25, 2023, FBI agents arrested Bull and executed a search warrant at his Connecticut residence. A search of Bull’s cellphone revealed that it contained, among other things, at least 15 videos and 40 photos depicting children being sexually abused, including an infant. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and New Haven, Connecticut. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys D. Rodney Brown and Kelly S. Milliron.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify, locate, and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.