Windsor Locks Man Who Victimized Teens Through Snapchat Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JUSTIN McKENNEY, 29, formerly of Windsor Locks, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 240 months of imprisonment, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for child exploitation offenses.

According to court documents and statements made in Court, in October 2021, Glastonbury Police began investigating the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl by an individual she met on Snapchat.  The investigation revealed that McKenney posed as a high school student on Snapchat.  He began communicating with the minor victim in September 2021, and he subsequently enticed her to engage in sexual activity.

McKenney also used Snapchat to receive child pornography from three other minor females between the ages of 14 and 17.

McKenney has been detained since his arrest on March 17, 2022.  On April 11, 2023, McKenney pleaded guilty to one count of enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, and one count of receipt of child pornography.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Glastonbury Police Department, the Windsor Locks Police Department, the Manchester Police Department, and the Connecticut Center for Digital Investigations, with the assistance of the Hudson (Mass.) Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nancy V. Gifford and Daniel E. Cummings.

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.