Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Richard Doyle, 65, formerly of Litchfield, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for possessing and distributing child pornography. At the time of his arrest in December 2012, Doyle was employed as a teacher at a private school in Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in late October 2012, a law enforcement agent logged into a publicly available Internet file sharing program and downloaded images of child pornography from shared directories maintained by Doyle. On December 4, 2012, the FBI executed a search warrant at Doyle’s Litchfield residence. Doyle was arrested after he admitted that he had used the file sharing program to obtain and trade child pornography. Doyle further admitted that he had been viewing child pornography since the 1970s, had used other computer programs to trade child pornography, and had purchased magazines containing child pornography.

Doyle indicated that he had thousands of child pornography images in his collection, with some of boys as young as 5, 6, or 7 years old. He directed the FBI to a plastic container hidden under his workbench in the basement of his home and indicated that the thumb drives in that container comprised his collection of child pornography, with the exception of some magazines that were still in the attic. Doyle stated that he only used his home computer system to download and view child pornography and never used his computer at the school where he was employed.

Pursuant to the search warrant, law enforcement seized a desktop computer and seven thumb drives. Examination of the computer and thumb drives revealed in excess of 4,000 image files and approximately six video files of child pornography.

On December 16, 2013, Doyle waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography. Doyle has been released on a $200,000 bond and residing with family members since shortly after his arrest on December 4, 2012. He was ordered to report to prison on July 7.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The Connecticut State Police assisted the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller.

The Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which is housed at the main FBI office in New Haven, investigates crimes against children occurring over the Internet and provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies. For more information about the task force, or to report child exploitation crimes, please contact the FBI at 203-777-6311.

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.