Meriden Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charge

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Kimberly K. Mertz, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that DAVID WAYNE PILLSBURY, 53, of Meriden, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Christopher F. Droney in Hartford to one count of receipt of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on December 10, 2010, an FBI special agent in Buffalo, New York, acting in an undercover capacity, logged into a publicly available Internet file-sharing program and downloaded 22 images of child pornography from a shared directory maintained by PILLSBURY. On January 18, 2011, members of Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force executed a court-authorized search and seizure warrant at PILLSBURY’s residence and seized a computer and computer components that were found in PILLSBURY’s bedroom. At that time, PILLSBURY also advised agents of the location of two hidden hard drives.

Subsequent forensic analysis of the computer components seized from PILLSBURY’s residence revealed thousands of images and videos of depicting child pornography, including images of children under the age of 12 engaging in sexually explicit conduct. PILLSBURY’s collection of child pornography exceeded 100 Gigabytes in size.

On July 15, 1997, PILLSBURY was convicted in the state of Washington of child molestation in the first degree, and was subsequently incarcerated for more than seven years.

Judge Droney has scheduled sentencing for January 19, 2012, at which time PILLSBURY faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years.

PILLSBURY has been detained since his arrest on January 18, 2011.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The Connecticut State Police have provided valuable assistance to the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Deborah R. Slater.

The Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force investigates crimes occurring over the Internet, including computer intrusion, Internet fraud, copyright violations, Internet threats and harassment, and online crimes against children. The task force also provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies. The task force is housed in the main FBI office in New Haven, Connecticut. For more information about the task force, please contact the FBI at 203-777-6311.

U.S. Attorney Fein noted that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, and the District of Connecticut’s “Operation Constant Vigilance,” which are aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit Cybertipline.com.