Bridgeport Man Sentenced To Prison In Federal Child Exploitation Case

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 63-year-old Bridgeport man was sentenced this month to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, in connection with a federal child exploitation case, United States Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery announced.

Michael Nastu was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford; he pleaded guilty this past September to attempted transfer of obscene materials to a minor.

According to court documents and statements, in March 2021, Nastu, using the Kik social media application, initiated a chat with an FBI Online Covert Employee who was posing as a 14-year-old girl from Connecticut.

Between March 31 and June 25, 2021, Nastu sent the federal agent sexually explicit messages and several pictures and videos of male genitalia, and he attempted to entice the agent to send him child pornography in return, according to prosecutors.

"Although they had multiple text exchanges about meeting in person, Nastu never travelled to meet the OCE," Avery said in a release.

Nastu was arrested this past June, and he is free on a $100,000 bond. He is ordered to report to prison on March 13.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda S. Oakes and Nancy V. Gifford through 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.