East Hampton Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Using Computer to Entice Minors to Engage in Sexual Activity

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Patricia M. Ferrick, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that KEITH HAESSLY, 46, of East Hampton, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 240 months of imprisonment, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release, for using a computer to persuade minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately August 2013 and June 2015, HAESSLY, using video chat programs such as Skype and Omegle, posed as a young female and used previously-recorded videos of females to entice numerous boys to engage in sexual activity over webcams.  HAESSLY then made recordings of the boys engaged in sexual activity, and distributed some of the images he recorded to an individual in Virginia.

Analysis of HAESSLY’s computer revealed images and videos that depict more than 950 child victims.

“This defendant victimized hundreds of boys by enticing them to engage in explicit sexual acts over the internet, recording those acts, categorizing and storing the videos, and distributing some of the images to another individual,” said U.S. Attorney Daly.  “This sentence will ensure that a child predator will be neutralized for years to come.  I thank the FBI and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force for thoroughly investigating this matter and attaining justice for the many victims of this pervasive crime.”

HAESSLY has been detained since his arrest on June 3, 2015.    At the time of his arrest, he was a member of the Connecticut Air National Guard.

On February 18, 2016, HAESSLY pleaded guilty to one count of use of an interstate facility to persuade a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, with the assistance of the Connecticut Air National Guard Office of Special Investigations.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ray Miller and Neeraj 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.